MEMOIES 

OF THE 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

OP 

PENNSYLVANIA, 



VOL. I. 



BEING A REPUBLICATION. 

EDITED BY 

EDWARD ARMSTRONG 

MEMBER OP THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PBNNSYIVANIA. 






PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED BY McCARTY AND DAYIS, 

No. 171 High Street. 
1826. 

PHILADELPHIA: 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 

FOR THE 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
1864. 



r 






ADVERTISEMENT 



FIRST EDITION. 



The Historical Society of Pennsylvania commences the 
publication of its transactions with the present number, 
and with the expectation of being able to issue a work of 
equal size every six months. 

From the miscellaneous nature of the subjects, it is 
obvious that an adherence to chronological order would 
not be easy. The Society does not undertake to compose 
a history; its desire is to collect materials for history. 
Eemote and recent periods will, therefore, sometimes be 
found in immediate contact or anachronous succession : 
the transactions of the seventeenth century may follow 
those of the nineteenth. But, although historical order 
is impossible, the want of it, it is hoped, will not impair 
the interest which such collections usually excite ; and the 
variety of the facts may compensate for the irregularity 
of the arrangement. 



VI ADVERTISEMENT. 

The Circular Letter already extensively communicated 
is included in the present publication ; and it is requested 
that every reader will consider it addressed to himself. 
On a general compliance with the wishes expressed in it, 
the Society founds its hopes of permanence and useful- 
ness. 

With the second half-volume an index to the whole 
will be given. 

Philadelphia, December, 1825. 



EDITOEIAL NOTE 



A LIMITED edition of the first volume of the Memoirs, 
which appeared in 1826, having been printed, and copies 
now being very scarce, the trustees hope that the accom- 
panying repubhcation of it will be acceptable to the sub- 
scribers. 

Notes have been added where it was thought by the 
editor desirable to illustrate the text. 

The trustees, in the course of the year, propose to print 
an additional volume, containing the autobiography and 
correspondence of Mr. Peter S. Du Ponceau, the late Presi- 
dent of the Society ; to which a brief memoir will be pre- 
fixed. 

In connection with this intimation they desire to say 
that they will feel obliged for copies of any letters of 
Mr. Du Ponceau, with which those possessing the originals 
may be disposed to favor them. 

The publication of the History of the Town of Beth- 
lehem, and which the trustees believed they would before 
this have been able to present, has been delayed by causes 
beyond control. The volume will be issued as soon as 
practicable. 

Philadelphia, July 20, 18G4. 

(vii) 



THE 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OE PENNSYLVANIA.* 



The want of a- Historical Society of Pennsylvania has 
been felt for generations. Although, however, various 
thoughtful and patriotic individuals have taken means to 
preserve records of the Colony and State, a sufficient com- 
bination was not formed to achieve this purpose in an 
effectual manner till December 2, 1824; which point, 
therefore, dates as the origin of the present association. 

At an earlier period, and during the colonial condition 
of the settlement, extensive records were kept by more 
than one religious body, and a constant intercourse with 
England kept Pennsylvania as much before the public 
mind as it may have been thought to deserve ; while, at 
an after moment, the writings of Voltaire and other 
imaginative authors may, perhaps, have made the infant 
combination so noted as to do away with any urgency for 
a history so obscure and remote. The Revolutionary war 
involved interests on a larger scale, and was connected by 
many with theoretical views of the rights and destinies 
of the human race at large ; and the quiet settlement in 

* This sketch was prepared by Dr. Coates, and is reprinted from a 
pamphlet recently published by the Society, 

1 (ix) 



X SKETCH OF 

a vast forest became, in comparison, an object of but little 
attention. 

When the war was over, and men had time to breathe 
from the involvement of great interests and from desperate 
struggles, calmer minds soon recollected the necessity of 
more adequate means for the preservation of records. 
Then it was found that impediment arose from the 
divergency of views and habits. Impressions remaining 
from military and political struggles, and existing differ- 
ences of religious opinions and feelings, were hard to 
reconcile in a common labor until the period we have 
mentioned. 

The names of the members present at the inauguration 
meeting were Roberts Vaux, Stephen Duncan, Thomas I. 
Wharton, William Rawle, Jr., Dr. Benjamin H. Coates, 
Dr. Caspar Wistar, and George Washington Smith. It was 
well understood that the late eminent William Rawle, Jr., 
and John F. Watson, though personally absent, were to 
be considered as present, and they are therefore in the 
category of foundation members. Several other gentlemen 
gave their attendance at the preliminary conferences, and, 
it is believed, at some of the regular meetings, the minutes 
of which are not preserved. At the first annual election, 
held February 28, 1825, the Society, which had hitherto 
appointed Roberts Vaux as Chiiirman, filled the place of 
President with the late William Rawle, Sr. ; and the Vice 
Presidents were Roberts Vaux and Thomas Duncan, the 
Corresponding Secretary, Daniel B. Smith, and the Record- 
ing Secretary, G. Washington Smith. On the 18th of 
May, the Council, under the constitution, held its first 



THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. XI 

meeting. In this body, besides the names ah'eady given, 
we find those of Dr. Thomas C. James, William Kawle, Jr., 
Thomas H. White, Dr. Samuel Jackson (Professor), William 
Mason Walmsley, and Gerard Ralston. 

On the 3d of October, 1825, ten committees were 
appointed, containing many names, to report, with delibe- 
ration, on as many subdivisions into which an examination 
of the historical records of Pennsylvania were supposed 
to be naturally divided. Some of these committees re- 
ported ; but a larger number omitted to do so, although 
the inquiries thus set on foot gave rise to some subsequent 
papers. 

In December, 1825, the publication of the Memoirs was 
commenced. Most of these were newly compiled essays, 
with some orations, all intended to introduce the respective 
subjects ; but the volumes included a few original docu- 
ments. They were continued till 1840, in four volumes. 
In 1845-1848, a volume was issued under the title of 
"Bulletin;" and, after the formation of the Publication 
Fund, the Memoirs were resumed, with an enlarged page 
and in a finer style, by fifth, sixth, and seventh volumes, 
as far as 1860. 

Of later years, with the growth of Philadelphia, and 
by the exertions of active and influential members, the 
magnitude, and, it is to be hoped, the usefulness of the 
Historical Society, have been greatly increased. Citizens 
at large have taken more interest in its advancement ; its 
library at length amounts to 7000 volumes ; and a hand- 
some collection of portraits of Governors of the State and 
of other distinguished individuals, with several landscape 



XU SKETCHOF 

views of interesting localities, hang on its walls; the 
number of valuable relics in its possession is augmented, 
and is still growing; funds preserved for a building, for 
publication, for binding the books, etc., now in total 
amount exceed nineteen thousand dollars ; and very liberal 
contributions in books, and, in one instance, of relics that 
cannot be replaced, has been received from the Govern- 
ments of the United States, of Pennsylvania, and of Great 
Britain, as well as from foreign and American Societies, 
and from the family of William Penn. Valuable and 
important legacies are promised for the future. 

Still, it is necessary for truth and for the objects of the 
Society to say that there is, and for a long coming period 
can be, no provision for the increase and completion of its 
library, other than in the liberality of its friends; and 
the Society, therefore, is yet in need of such donations as 
may be worthy of preservation, and may correspond with 
the views of persons who value and wish to promote these 
inquiries. In some departments of American history the 
collection is as yet very incomplete, and the Executive 
Committee have it at present in view to take measures for 
extending it, so that the student may find, in these points, 
all the references needed for his researches. For the 
erection of a fire-proof hall, too, a "Building Fund" has 
been commenced, for which twenty-five hundred dollars 
have been collected, and it is hoped that the obvious need 
for such a protection may induce the liberal to aid in the 
undertaking. 

The Publication Fund was commenced in 1854, and 
now amounts to upwards of seventeen thousand dollars, 



THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Xlll 

held in trust by John Jordan, Jr., Oswald Thompson, and 
William Strong. 

A payment of twenty dollars obtains the right to receive, 
during life, a copy of each publication. For libraries this 
privilege continues twenty years. 

There have been published since its foundation : 

In 1856, The History of Braddock's Expedition. 
In 1858, Contributions to American History. 
In 1860, Record of Upland, and Denny's Military 
Journal. 

There is in preparation for publication : 

The History of the Town of Bethlehem, and of the 
Moravian Settlements in Northeastern Pennsyl- 
vania, from original sources, in large octavo, handsomely 
illustrated. 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP PENNSYLVANIA, 



OFFICERS FOR 1864. 

PRESIDENT, 

JOSEPH R. INGERSOLL. 

VICE PRESIDENTS, 

JOSHUA FRANCIS FISHER, 
GEORGE CHAMBERS, 

OP Chambersburg, 
BENJAMIN H. COATES, 
JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE. 

TREASURER, 

CHARLES M. MORRIS. 

RECORDING SECRETARY, 

SAMUEL L. SMEDLEY. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 

HORATIO G. JONES. 

LIBRARIAN, 

SAMUEL L. TAYLOR. 

LIBRARY COMMITTEE, 

JOHN JORDAN, Jr, 
JOHN A. MCALLISTER, 
RICHARD L. NICHOLSON. 

PUBLICATION COMMITTEE, 

WILLIAM DUANE, 

REV. DANIEL WASHBURN, 

JAMES R. SNOWDEN. 

FINANCE COMMITTEE, 

JOSEPH CARSON, 
AUBREY H. SMITH, 
EDMUND A. SOUDER. 

(xiv) 



CONSTITUTION. 



Article I, — This Association shall be called "The Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania," — and its object shall be the elucidation of 
the history of this State, though other branches of history shall not 
be excluded. 

Art. II. — The Society shall be composed of such persons as have 
been, or may be, elected, from time to time, according to its laws and 
regulations. 

Art. III. — The officers of the Society shall be annually chosen, by 
a majority of ballots, at the stated meeting in February, and shall 
consist of a President, four Vice Presidents, a Corresponding Secre- 
tary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, and a Librarian. The 
candidates for all offices shall be nominated at the stated meeting in 
January, and no new candidates shall be nominated at the stated 
meeting in February, except by unanimous consent. 

Art. IY. — It shall be the duty of the President, or in his absence, 
of a Vice President, to preside at the meetings of the Society, to 
preserve order, regulate debates, to state motions and questions, and 
to announce the decisions thereupon. If neither the President nor 
any of the Vice Presidents be present at a meeting, the Society may 
choose a member to act as President at that meeting. 

Art. V. — The Corresponding Secretary shall conduct and have 
charge of the correspondence of the Society. 

(XV) 



Xvi CONSTITUTION. 

Aet. YL — The Recording Secretary shall keep full and correct 
minutes of the proceedings of the Society, and shall have them 
transcribed into a book of record. He shall give due notice of any 
special meeting that may be called, and shall notify all members of 
their election. 

Art. YII. — The Treasurer shall have charge of the moneys and 
other funds belonging to the Society. He shall collect the contri- 
butions of the members and other income of the Society, and shall 
pay such claims against the Society as shall have been duly examined 
and ordered to be paid. He shall annually present, at the stated 
meeting in January, a statement of his receipts and expenditures 
during the preceding year, with a full report on the financial condition 
of the Society. 

Art. YIII. — The Librarian shall have charge of the books, manu- 
scripts, and other property in the rooms of the Society, and shall 
arrange and preserve the same in proper and convenient order. He 
shall keep an arranged catalogue of the books and manuscripts, and, 
where these have been presented, shall append the names of the 
donors. His compensation shall be fixed by the Executive Com- 
mittee, and the details of his duties shall be prescribed by the Com- 
mittee on the Library. At the stated meeting in January he shall 
annually present a report to the Society, embracing an account of 
his administration of the library, and of its condition during the 
preceding year. 

Art. IX. — There shall be the following Standing Committees, 
each to be composed of three members of the Society, viz.: 1st, Com- 
mittee on the Library ; 2d, Committee on Publications ; 3d, Com- 
mittee on Finance. The members thereof shall serve for the term 
of three years ; one of each Committee shall be elected annually at 
the stated meeting of the Society in February. Those elected in 
1862 shall draw lots for their respective terms of one, two, and three 
years. The members of these Committees, together with the other 
officers of the Society, shall form an Executive Committee, of which 



CONSTITUTION. XVU 

five shall constitute a quorum, which shall meet at the hall on the 
fourth Monday of every month. Members of the Society have the 
right to attend the meetings of every Committee, to introduce 
motions, and to speak thereon, and to vote at any election for mem- 
bers of the Society. In order that the meetings of the Society shall 
be free for the reading of papers or for discussions on historical and 
literary subjects, the business of the Society shall be transacted by 
the Executive Committee, any member of which, however, shall have 
the right to call for the ayes and nays on any question to be entered 
on the minutes, and to bring the same, by appeal, before the Society ; 
in which case the list of ayes and nays, together with the notice of 
the appeal, shall form a part of the record, and be laid before the next 
meeting of the Society. 

Art. X. — Vacancies which may occur in any of the above-named 
offices shall be filled by an election at the next stated meeting after 
such vacancy shall have been announced to the Society. 

Art. XI. — The Society shall hold stated meetings on the second 
Monday evening of every month. Special meetings may be called 
by the President or one of the Vice Presidents, by giving at least 
three days' notice thereof in not less than two of the daily news- 
papers published in the city of Philadelphia. The members present 
at any meeting shall constitute a quorum. 

Art. XII. — No alteration shall be made in this Constitution unless 
the proposed amendments shall have been drawn up in writing, and 
read to the Society at three successive monthly stated meetings. Nor 
shall any such amendment be considered as adopted unless sanctioned 
by the votes of three-fourths of the members present at the meeting 
when the question shall be taken upon its adoption. 

LAWS. 

Article I. — The election of members shall be by ballot, at any 
stated meeting of the Society or of the Executive Committee. Those 
members shall be deemed qualified voters at the meetings and elections 



XVIU CONSTITUTION". 

who have paid their dues to the Society. A member may at any 
meeting nominate, in writing, a candidate for membership, and if the 
said candidate shall receive a majority of the votes cast, he shall be 
deemed duly elected. On request of three members, the balloting 
on any candidate shall be postponed to the next stated meeting. A 
viva voce vote on the election of a member may be taken, if so 
ordered. The balloting being gone through, the boxes shall be opened, 
and the result of the poll declared by the presiding officer. The 
written nominations of the members elected shall be preserved by the 
Secretary for future reference. 

Art. II. — Such members as reside within the city of Philadelphia 
shall pay an annual contribution of three dollars. The payment of 
tioenty dollars at one time, by a member, shall constitute him a mem- 
ber for life, with an exemption from all future annual payments. Any 
member liable to an annual contribution, who shall neglect or refuse 
to pay the same for the term of two years, may, by the action of the 
Executive Committee, have his rights as a member suspended, and 
in case the said arrears are not paid when the third annual contri- 
bution shall have become due, the membership of such defaulting 
member may then be forfeited, and his name stricken from the roll. 

Art. III. — On the Society being informed of the death of a mem- 
ber, the fact shall be entered on the records, and a member may be 
appointed to prepare an obituary notice of the deceased. The obit- 
uary notices of members shall be read to the Society, and they shall 
be bound together whenever they are sufficiently numerous to form 
a volume. 

Art. IV. — The Committee of Finance shall have the general super- 
intendence of the financial concerns of the Society ; they shall audit 
and certify all bills for payment by the Treasurer ; they shall always 
have access to his books, accounts, and vouchers, and shall examine 
and audit his annual report, as well as those of the Trustees of the 
special funds of the Society. They shall consult with the Treasurer, 
and authorize and direct the investment of surplus funds. 



CONSTITUTION. XIX 

Art. Y. — The Committee of Publication shall superintend the 
printing and distribution of such publications as may be ordered to 
be made by the Trustees of the Publication Fund. They shall have 
power to call on the Librarian for his assistance in the performance 
of their duties. 

Art. VI. — The Committee on the Library shall confer with and 
direct the Librarian in the general care and management of the 
library, and shall control the disbursement of such appropriations as 
may be made by the Society for its increase and maintenance, as well 
as in the disposition and arrangement of the books, maps, documents, 
and paintings belonging to the Society. 

Art. YII. — All special Committees shall be chosen on nomi- 
nations made by members present, unless the Society shall otherwise 
direct. The member first named of any committee shall be the 
chairman. 

Art. VIII. — A majority of any committee shall be a quorum. 
Special committees shall report at the meeting next after that at 
which they were appointed, unless otherwise ordered by the Society. 
All reports shall be in writing, and signed by the members agreeing 
thereto. 

Art. IX. — The Librarian shall attend at the library at such hours 
as the Executive Committee shall, from time to time, direct ; and the 
rooms shall be opened on every Monday evening, between the hours 
of 8 and 10, except during June, July, and August. 

Art. X. — No alteration or amendment of the laws and regulations 
of the Society shall be made or considered, unless the same shall 
have been duly proposed and fairly drawn up in writing at one stated 
meeting of the Society, and laid over for consideration and enactment 
at the next stated meeting ; nor shall any such alteration, amendment, 
or regulation be considered as passed or binding upon the members, 
unless the same be sanctioned by the vote of three-fourths of the 
number of qualified members then present. 



XX CONSTITUTION. 

Art. XI. — The laws and regulations contained in the foregoing 
articles shall be in force from and after the time of their adoption by 
the Society, and thereafter all other laws and regulations heretofore 
made by the Society, and not contained in its Constitution, shall be, 
and the same are hereby repealed. 



ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

I. The chair taken by the presiding officer. 
11. New members presented, and visitors from other Societies 
introduced. 

III. Records read of last meeting, and of any subsequent special 

meeting. 

IV. Correspondence read. 

V, Donations and other additions announced : 

a. To the Library. 

b. Other donations or additions. 

VI. Reports and communications on historical and literary sub- 
jects. 
VII. Obituary notices of members read, and announcements of 
the decease of members made and acted on. 
VIII. Balloting for candidates for membership. 

IX. Reports on business from officers and committees. 
X. Deferred business. 
XI. New business. 

XII. Minutes of the meeting read and submitted for correction. 
XIII. The Society adjourned by the presiding officer. 



CONSTITUTION 



HISTOEICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



PREAMBLE. 

To collect and preserve the evidences of its own 
history from the earliest date, is both the duty and 
interest of every political society, whether its progress 
has been prosperous or disastrous ; and to ascertain and 
develop the natural resources of a State, to investigate 
its climate, soil, progress of population, and other statis- 
tical points, are objects equally worthy of attention, and 
which demand and deserve the united efforts of all who 
are desirous to honor the character and advance the pros- 
perity of their commonwealth. 

Impressed with these considerations, desirous of repair- 
ing as far as possible the injuries which the early history 
of Pennsylvania has sustained by reason of the inatten- 
tion of our predecessors, and believing that there is much 
to interest and something to instruct in the transactions 
of those days, when an honest, virtuous, and pious people, 
relinquishing their early possessions and enjoyments, laid, 

(13) 



14 CONSTITUTION. 

in a wild and uncultivated country, the foundations of a 
State, now eminently great, successful, and happy, we, 
whose names are hereunto subjoined, have united our- 
selves into a Society, for the purpose of elucidating the 
civil, Hterary, and natural history of Pennsylvania, and 
have adopted for our government the following 

CONSTITUTION.* 

Article I. — This Association shall be denominated 
" The Historical Society of Pennsylvania." - . 

Article II. — The object of the Society shall be the 
elucidation of the natural, civil, and Hterary history of 
this State. 

Article III. — The Society shall be composed of — 1st. 
Contributing members. — 2d. Corresponding members. — 
3d. Honorary members. 

The first class shall consist of persons residing in the 
city of Philadelphia, or the State of Pennsylvania, within 
ten miles of the city. 

The second class, of j^ersons residing in any other part 
of Pennsylvania. 

The third class, of persons residing in any part of 
America or elsewhere, and females may be admitted into 
it. No person shall be eligible in the first or second 
class, unless he be a native of Pennsylvania, or shall 
have been domiciliated there for the space of ten years. 

Article IV. — The officers of the society, who shall be 

* This Constitution has been materially altered since the date of 
its adoption. — Editor. 



CONSTITUTION. 15 

annually chosen, shall be a President, four Vice-Presi- 
dents, two of whom shall be inhabitants of the city or 
county of Philadelphia, a Treasurer, a Corresponding 
Secretary, a Recording Secretary, and a Curator. 

Article V. — There shall also be annually elected a 
Council, to consist of thirteen members, besides the above 
named officers, who shall be ex officio members of the 
Council. Seven members shall constitute a quorum. It 
shall be the duty of the Council to receive donations 
made to the Society, and to take suitable care of the 
books, and other property, to superintend the correspon- 
dence of the Society, to digest and prepare business, and 
to execute such other duties, as may from time to time 
be committed to them by the Society. They shall have 
power to make rules for their own government in their 
meetings. They shall meet at least once a month, and 
may adjourn to shorter periods. At every quarterly 
meeting of the Society, they shall make a report of the 
acquisitions and transactions of the preceding quarter. 
At the meetings of the Council, the contributing members 
shall be at liberty to attend, and may propose any 
matters for consideration, but shall not be entitled to 
vote. The Council may be specially convened at any 
time by the President, or one of the Vice-Presidents. 

Article VI. — The Society shall meet quarterly, to 
wit, on the first Monday of February, May, August, and 
November ; but the President, or, in his absence, either 
of the Vice-Presidents, may call a special meeting, on 
giving three days' notice thereof, in at least two of the 
daily newspapers published in Philadelphia. The elec- 



16 CONSTITUTION. 

tion of Officers, and of the Council, shall take place at the 
quarterly meeting in February, and shall be decided by a 
majority of ballots. The Society may adjourn from time 
to time. An annual discourse shall be delivered by one 
of the members, who shall be appointed for that purpose 
by the Council; and dissertations, connected with the 
general objects of the Society, may be read by any of the 
members, at any of its meetings. "When the annual dis- 
course is delivered, strangers may be admitted. The 
Society may, from time to time, appoint special com- 
mittees, for the purpose of investigating particular- sub- 
jects, who shall report to the Council, which latter shall 
select such parts thereof as they may deem expedient to 
lay before the Society. 

Article VII. — The Council shall have power to elect 
contributing, corresponding, and honorary members of 
the Society ; but all such elections shall be by ballot, and 
three negative votes shall prevent the election of any 
candidate. 

Article VIII. — This Constitution may be amended at 
any quarterly meeting of the Society, provided that a 
notice of the intended amendment shall have been given, 
and entered on the journals of the Society at a preceding 
quarterly meeting. 



OFFICERS 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



*Williani Rawle, President 

*Roberts Vaux, Vice-Pi-esident. 

*Tliomas Duncan, do. 

*Jolin Bannister Gibson (Carlisle), do. 

*James Ross {Pittsburg), do. 

^Joseph Hopkinson, Corresponding Secretary. 
*Thomas M'Kean Pettit, Recording do. 

*William Mason Walmsley, Treasurer. 

Gerard Ralston, Curator. 

Members lolio, with tlw above Officers, constitute the Council. 

*Thomas C. James, *William Rawle, Jr., 

* Joseph Reed, Benjamin H. Coates, 

*Tliomas H. White, *Joseph Parker Norris, 

*Thomas I. Wharton, ^Charles Jared Ingersoll, 

*Stephen Duncan, *Edward Bettle, 

*Daniel B. Smith, George Wn. Smith. 
Samuel Jackson, 



* Dead, 1864. 

(17) 



18 OFFICERS OF THE 

STANDING COMMITTEES. 

1. On the national origin, early difficulties, and do- 
mestic habits of the first settlers. 

*Joseph P. Norris, *Jacob S. Wahi, 

=^Nicholas Colhn, *Thomas H. White, 

*Roberts Vaux, Charles Yarnall, 

Daniel B. Smith, Reyiiell Coates, 

*Zaccheus Collins, '^John Singer, 

*Thomas F. Gordon, *John F. Watson. 

2. On the biography of the founder of Pennsylvania, 
his family, and the early settlers. 

^Roberts Vaux, ^Edward Penington, 

*Samuel R. Wood, Ellis Yarnall, 

*Algernon S. Logan, WilUam Maule, 

Elwood Walter, *John Poulson. 

Charles Lukens, 

3. On biographical notices of persons distinguished 
among us in ancient and modern times. 

*William Rawle, "•■^William Smith, 

^Roberts Vaux, George W. Toland, 

■•''Joseph Sansom, Samuel Morton, 

^Clements S. Miller, Thomas Evans. 

4. On the Aljorigines of Pennsylvania, their numbers, 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 19 

names of their tribes, intercourse with Europeans, their 
language, habits, characters, and wars. 

*Peter S. Duponceau, James J. Barclay, 

Benjamin H. Coates, Charles W. Thompson, 

*Thomas M. Pettit, Isaac Norris, 

* Joseph Roberts, T. Pennant Barton, 

Henry J. WilHams, '^-WilUam H. Keating. 

5. On the princijDles to which the rapid population of 
Pennsylvania may be ascribed. 

^Charles J. Ingersoll, * James N. Barker, 

George M. Dallas, George Randolph, 

Thomas A. Budd, *James C. Biddle. 

*William B. Davidson, 

6. On the revenues, expenses, and general polity of 
the provincial government. 

•^John Sergeant, ^Samuel B. Morris, 

'^Benjamin R. Morgan, William M. Meredith, 

Joseph R. Ingersoll, * William S. Warder. 
^Clement C. Biddle, 

7. On the Juridical History of Pennsylvania. 

*William Tilghman, =^'John Purdon, 

*Thomas Duncan, ^Thomas Bradford, Jr., 

=^=Joseph Reed, *Edward D. Ingraham, 

*William Rawle, Jr., David Paul Brown. 



20 OFFICERSOFTHE 

8. On the Literary History of Pennsylvania. 

*Josepli Hopkinson, ^Thomas I. Wharton, 

*Robert Walsh, Jr., *Edward Bettle, 

George W. Smith, John M. Read, 

Gerard Ralston, *John Vaughan. 

9. On the Medical History of Pennsylvania. 

*Thomas C. James, Caspar Wistar, 

Samuel Jackson, Caspar Morris, 

J. Rhea Barton, *Isaac Snowden. 
Benjamin ElUs, 

10. On the progress and present state of Agriculture, 
Manufactures, and Commerce, in Pennsylvania. 

*Nicholas Biddle, CM. Pennock, 

*Stephen Duncan, *Reuben Haines, 

*William M. Walmsley, Charles A. Poulson, 
*Thomas Biddle, George Stewardson, 

*John Hare Powell, ^Roberts Vaux, 
*Samuel Wetherill, *Samuel Breck. 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



21 



ton. 



HONORARY MEMBERS. 

*John Penn, England. 

^Granville Penn, do. 

*Richard Penn, do. 

^Robert Barclay, do. 

*Thomas Clarkson, do. 

*David Baillie Warden, Paris. 

*Henry Clay, Secretary of State, Washingtc 

*Ricliard Rush, Secretary of Treasury, Washington. 

*Antliony Morris, ^^• 

*Edward Livingston, New Orleans. 

CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 

=-=Jolin Andrew Shulze, Governor of Pennsylvania. 
*Molton C. Rogers, Secretary of the Commonwealth. 
=^=Jolm Bannister Gibson, Carlisle. 
*James Ross, Pittshurg. 

William Wilkins, do. 
^Richard Biddle, do. 

T. B. Dallas, do. 

David Scott, Wilhesharre. 
^Redmond Conyngliam, Luzerne County. 
='=Walter Franklin, Lancaster. 
^William Darlington, West Chester. 

Parker Campbell, Washington, Pa. 
*Tliomas B. M'Elwee, Bedford. 



22 HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Francis W. Eawle, Clearfield County. 

John Young, Greemhurg. 
*Janies Dunlop, Chamber sburg. 

Joseph J. Lewis, Chester County. 
*David C. Claypoole, Bucks County 

Erskine Hazard, Mauch Chunk. 



CIRCULAR. 



Philadelphia, June 21, 1825. 

Sir : — A number of persons, feeling an interest in the 
collection and preservation of whatever may conduce to 
the knowledge of the History of Pennsylvania, have 
formed a Society under the title of " The Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania." 

Their objects are to trace all the circumstances of its 
early settlement — its successful progress and its present 
state ; — to collect all the documents and written or 
printed evidence, and all the traditionary information 
that may still be attainable ; and, after having thus 
acquired possession of sufficient materials, it will be the 
office of one or more committees to select what may be 
deemed generally interesting and instructive, to method- 
ize and arrange it, and to lay it in a proper form before 
the public. 

It is obvious that the more copious these collections 
are, the greater will be the means of a judicious and 
satisfactory selection, and it is therefore the ardent hope 
of the Society, that persons in possession of documents 
of the nature described in the following list, will feel a 

(23) 



24 CIRCULAR. e, 

common, it may be said a patriotic, interest in contri- 
buting to the general purpose, by favoring the Society, 
either as donations or loans, with any works of the 
following description, viz. : 

Original letters, books, journals or narratives of the 
early settlers of Pennsylvania, or of any distinguished 
persons among us in later times. Narratives relative to 
the Indians ; wars or treaties with them ; and the general 
intercourse between them and Europeans, or among the 
Indians themselves. Vocabularies or other indications 
of their language. Accounts of missionaries, public 
messengers, and travellers among them. 

Any facts or reasoning that may throw light on the 
doubtful question of the origin of the North American 
Indians. 

Copies of records, and proceedings of any jDublic bodies, 
of a political, religious, Uterary, or other character, that 
have at any time existed among us. 

Accounts of universities, colleges, academies, and 
schools, their origin and progress. 

Topographical descriptions of cities, towns, boroughs, 
counties, or townships. 

Accounts of the population, births, longevity, deaths, 
endemial or local diseases — facts relative to climate, 
meteorological remarks, general employment or peculiar 
customs of each district. 

Biographical notices of any eminent persons, or of any 
persons in respect to whom remarkable events may have 
happened. 

As it is the intention of the Society to form an ample 



CIRCULAR. 25 

library and cabinet, it will gratefully receive all dona- 
tions of books, pamphlets, or manuscripts, on any 
subject or of any date; medals, coins, or any other 
article deriving value from historical or biographical 
affinities : Indian idols, ornaments, arms, or utensils, etc. 

The name of the donor will be noted in the library 
or the cabinet, and in the journals. 

Be pleased to address your communications to Joseph 
IIoPKiNSON-, Correfsponding Secretary, or Gerard Ralston, 
Curator of the Society, 



By order, 



Joseph Hopkinson, 

Secretary. 



WILLIAM RAWLE, 

President. 



At a meeting of " The Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania," held at Philadelphia, on the 7th day of 
November, 1825, it was 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented 
to the President, for his learned and instructive discourse, 
pronounced on the 5th instant ; and that he be requested 
to furnish a copy for publication. 
From the Minutes. 

T. M. Pettit, 

Secretary. 



(27) 



AN 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED ON THE 



5th of November, 1825, 



BEFORE THE 



HISTOEICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 



BY WILLIAM EAWLE, Esq., 



PRESIDENT OP THE SOCIETY. 



(29) 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 



Gentlemen : 

The intention to form this Society was unknown to 
me, till your partiality led 3^ou to request me to under- 
take the office of President f and, however unqualified, I 
have not hesitated to accept it. I have been led to this 
conclusion partly from the respect I felt for those who 
honored me by the selection, and partly because I have 
long wished to see an institution of this sort established 
amono' us. 



* William Rawle was born in Philadelphia, 28th of April, 1159. 
About 1178, he commenced the study of the law in New York, under 
Mr. Kemp, where he remained until June, 1781, when he embarked 
for England ; and, in August of that year, entered himself a student 
in the Middle Temple. Having left England in the beginning of 
1782, he proceeded to France, in which country he remained until 
November; and, in January, 1783, returned to his native city, and 
resumed his legal studies ; was admitted to the Bar on the 15th of 
September, 1783. He was elected, in October, 1789, a member of 
Assembly for Philadelphia; abd, in 1791, received at the hands of 
Washington, the appointment of Attorney of the United States for 
the District of Pennsylvania, which he resigned in May, 1800. In 
1792, he became a member of the Society "for the pui-pose of pro- 
moting the Abolition of Slavery, for the relief of Free Negroes unlaw- 
fully held in bondage, and for improving the condition of the African 

(31) 



32 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

Upwards of one hundred and forty years have elapsed 
since the peaceful companions of William Penn landed 
on the shores of the Delawarej^ 

Race," of which, on the death of Doctor Wistar, he was, in 1818, 
elected President. In 1805, he was chosen a member of the Agricul- 
tural Society, before which he delivered an address, which was pub- 
lished. In 1822, on the death of Mr. Jared Ingersoll, he was made 
Chancellor of the Associated Members of the Bar, before whom, on 
different occasions, he delivered two addresses, which have also 
been published. His "View of the Constitution of the United 
States," which appeared in 1825, was received with much favor, 
and adopted as a text-book in several of our literary institutions. 
In the same year, Mr. Rawle took an active part in the establish- 
ment of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and its Memoirs 
contain valuable contributions from his pen. In 1830, Mr. Rawle 
was associated with Messrs. T. I. Wharton and Joel Jones, as Com- 
missioners "to revise, collate, and digest all such public acts 
and statutes of the Civil Code of this State, and all such British 
statutes in force in this State as are general and permanent 
in their nature," and to report alterations and improvements re- 
quired therein, in which capacity his learning and enlarged expe- 
rience proved of great value to his colleagues. He died on the 12th 
of April, 1836. In the language of Mr. Wharton, to whose interest- 
ing Memoir, printed in the fourth volume of the Society's Transac- 
tions, we are indebted for the above facts, "Mr. Rawle was an 
accomplished jurist, a good scholar, and a person of great taste and 
great general acquirements. His reading in early life had been 
extensive ; and he brought to his professional studies a discrim- 
inating and healthy mind, which enabled him to make the best use 
of what he read. His learning was not confined to the jurisprudence 
of England and America, but extended much deeper into that of the 
ancient and modern laws of the continent of Europe than was usual 
in the last century. His professional business for the twenty years 
between about 1193 and 1813 was very great, and his income large. 
His name appears on most of the important causes of that period, and 
his arguments always commanded the attention and respect of the 
Court. His address to a jury was complete in diction, always free 

* See Editor's note " I," in the Appendix, at the end of volume. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 33 

Except their friend and guide, they numbered no 
distinguished character among them ; they were annoyed 
by no candidate for superior rank, no emblazoned warrior, 
or lofty member of a proud aristocracy : they were humble 
men of moderate fortunes — most of them adherents to a 
sect of recent origin whose motto was meekness and 
benevolence. 

Their departure from their native lands was unre- 
strained and almost unnoticed. In quietness they 
embarked, and in quietness they landed. Here they 
encountered no embittered foe; the}^ met no herds of 
indignant natives thronging to resist them, for the 
natives were already partially acquainted with English- 
men, and with this particular description of Englishmen. 

from unnecessary ornament, but earnest and impressive. I have 
already said that his deportment was conciliatory to his adversaries, 
and I believe that it may be saicl with truth that he never made an 
enemy at the Bar. 

" His classical knowledge was more extensive and accurate than 
that of most men in this country, not scholars by profession. He 
read a great deal, and to a late period of his life, in the Roman 
authors. Many of his editions belonged to his grandfather, William 
Rawle. With the Greek writers he was not so familiar, though he 
made the Greek Testament a frequent study. He was fond of 
poetry ; and, at one period of his life, wrote a great deal of it and 
very agreeably. I have mentioned in another place that he drew 
and painted well. I have seen sketches of his that would do credit 
to artists of reputation." Mr. Wharton adds, that "he was a sincere 
believer in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion." * * * 
" In the latest years of his life, it occupied a large portion of his 
thoughts. As the shadows of evening gathered around him, he 
seemed desirous to close the shutters upon all mere human specula- 
tion ; and enlightened and warmed by the faith of the Gospel, to 
commune v/ith his own heart, and prepare himself for the great event 
that was drawing nigh. This is not the time for the publication of 



34 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

Several years before the date of William Penn's charter, 
the society of Friends had begun to settle in New Jersey. 
They had fixed themselves at Salem and at Burlington, 
and the vessels which brought out additions to their 
numbers had occasionally stopped at Neio Castle, and at 
Sliachamaxon, now Kensington. Many Swedish settle- 
ments between these points, including Chester and 
Tinicum, had already proved the tractable disposition 
of the natives, and all was harmony and peace between 
them. 

The admirer of pomp and worldly rank, the lover of 
lofty deeds in arms, the ardent inquirer after stupendous 
adventure and miraculous preservations, will therefore 
find little gratification in tracing the simple progress of 
our early history. It is a plain and humble tale. 

The first colonists were invited in Europe by William 

any of his devotional writings or speculative opinions. Hereafter, 
possibly, they may see the light. I will only add, that by birth a 
member of the Society of Friends, Mr. Rawle never ceased to enter- 
tain the highest respect for that excellent body, and generally 
attended their place of worship when his health permitted, although 
he differed from them in some points of opinion respecting language 
and attire. Mr. Rawle's religion, as I have intimated, was not 
abstract or inanimate speculation. It governed and influenced his 
whole life. It controlled and tempered him during many years of 
prosperity, and sustained and comforted him in later days of distress 
and misfortune." 

Mr. Rawle, more than perhaps any of his predecessors at the 
Philadelphia Bar, thoroughly united the learning of the law with 
scholarly accomplishments ; and those who desire further knowledge 
of the incidents of his life, are referred to the eloquent and affection- 
ate tribute of his pupil, Mr. David Paul Brown, in the first volume 
of "The Forum," and to the "Memoir'' by the late Mr. Wharton, 
and the letter of Mr. Du Ponceau accompanying it. — Editor. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 35 

Penii, in the most fair and candid manner^, to become, 
not conquerors but cultivators of the soil ; to conciliate, 
not to extirpate the natives — to earn their bread by 
labor, not to acquire wealth by the prodigality of chance, 
the pursuit of precious metals, or by reducing the helpless 
natives to slavery. They felt no disappointment when 
they found that woods were to be prostrated, cabins to 
be erected, the earth to be opened, and its slow returns 
received, before subsistence was obtained. They rehed 
on the smiles of a gracious Providence, but they knew 
that His aid is only granted to those who exert all their 
own faculties to help themselves. 

It may perhaps be fastidiously asked, what interest 
can be found in the narrative of husbandmen or manu- 
facturers, Avhose days were spent in unvaried labor and 
whose nights were disturbed by no external alarms ; who 
prosecuted, in peaceful and obscure succession, the same 
alternations of toil and rest that are practised by men of 
similar occupations over all the earth ? Why does the 
peasant of Pennsylvania, in her early days, deserve a 
higher place in history than the peasant of England or 
of France? 

To this we answer, that to our predecessors, these 
mere laborers of our soil, loe look for the elements of that 
success which almost uniformly has accompanied our pro- 
gress, and on the same principles the relation may also 
be of value to others. 

The character of a nation, although not always fixed 
by the character of those with whom it originates, often 
retains a tincture from it that affects its subsequent 



36 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

course. And hence it follows, that when we see a 
nation rolHng tumultuously down the torrent of time, 
invading, overwhelming, and destroying whatever falls 
in its way, we are led to inquire whether its origin was 
not a mihtary association. 

When we perceive another steadily pursuing a course 
of peace and concord both at home and abroad, we are 
induced to suppose that it arose from the voluntary or 
casual union of men who cultivated the earth with honest 
labor or in other occupations confined themselves to useful 
industry, uninterrupted by the calculations of ambition or 
the incentives to violence and injustice. 

If we are sometimes disappointed in such inquiries, it 
is from the want of this elementary evidence. 

It is true, that however carefully and wisely the foun- 
dations of society may at first be laid, we cannot always 
depend on their permanence. New motives, unexpected 
exigencies sometimes arise, changing or totally subverting 
all original principles. The Arabian Shepherd becomes 
a warrior. The Teutonic Chiefs sink into peaceful 
farmers of the land which they have subdued. 

Yet still — if we wish to understand the nature of man, 
to become acquainted with ourselves — it is our duty, and 
in the prosecution of that duty, we shall find it a dehght, 
to ascend to the rudiments of social existence ; to elicit 
theory from facts, and not to imagine facts for the pur- 
pose of supporting theories ; and thus, if possible, to 
discover by what means order, peace, and happiness 
liave been, or hereafter may be rendered most permanent 
and secure. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 37 

How little of this has been done in respect to the 
nations of the other three continents ! 

How interesting, how instructive it would be to learn 
the early institutions and original habits of the Egyp- 
tians, the parents of European science and civilization : 
of Etruria, beheved to have made such advances in 
moral and political refinement before the overwhelmmg 
power of Rome began ; or of Britain, for ages before the 
wanton invasion of Caesar ! 

There is a power invisible and often irresistible which, 
while it sweeps away the grandeur of nations and the 
toils of men, involves in its destruction the full evidence 
of their former existence, and leaves us but the imperfect 
consciousness of the loss. 

To counteract this power as far as possible, to collect 
all the materials that have not yet entirely disappeared, 
to preserve all the abundance which the events of every 
day supply, and to hand them down in authentic form to 
posterity, is at present felt to be a duty. 

Illiterate nations, depending on oral tradition, soon 
become ignorant of their own history. 

How loose and obscure is all that can be gathered 
from the natives of this country, in respect to their times 
of old. 

Both in Europe, and here, recourse is had to poetic 
fiction, down to the time when history received the aid 
of letters. 

But we have the advantage of letters and of the press, 
and we ought to avail ourselves of these inestimable 
mechanic iMwers lest we incur the reproaches of pos- 



38 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

teritj — centuries hence — when, according to the uncer- 
tain course of human events, we may be regarded either 
as an example to be followed, or a beacon to be shunned. 

In Pennsylvania, I know not of any association ex- 
pressly formed for these purposes, prior to the institution 
of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American 
Philosophical Society, in the year 1815. 

This committee has succeeded in obtaining a valuable 
collection of historical memorials, including many manu- 
scripts relating not only to this State, but to other parts 
of the United States ; for, in their formation, they were 
charged to extend their inquiries to the whole continent 
and to the islands of America, although the leading 
objects were the history, geography, and statistics of 
Pennsylvania. 

In 1819, they enriched the world with a publication 
of Hecke welder's* " Account of the History, Manners, and 
Customs of the Indian Nations who once inhabited 
Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States." In praise 
of this luminous, impartial, and minute relation, drawn 
from a personal intercourse of many years, too much 
cannot be said. The author was well known to many 
of us ; he was disinterested, unassuming, and pious, and 
the fullest confidence may be placed in all that he 
relates from his own observations. 

If this Committee should do no more than it has done 
in publishing this work, it would still be entitled to our 

* A Life of John Heckewelder, by the Rev. Edward Rondthaler, 
edited by B. H. Coates, M.D., was published in Philadelphia, 1841. — 
Editor. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 39 

acknowledgments. Six years have intervened, and 
nothing further has appeared, nor has a full catalogue 
of their library or their cabinet been communicated to 
the public. Yet it is not to be understood that this 
institution is intentionally locked up from general use, 
nor that the paucity of its communications evinces either 
jealousy or apathy in its members. The radical defect 
is, that it consists only of those who are themselves 
members of the Philosophical Society, and no one can 
be associated in the Committee who is not a member 
of the Society. Fewer interests are therefore combined, 
and the public looks on them with indifference. 

The Society''' to Commemorate the Landing of William 
Penn is expressly confined to the subject designated by 
its title ; and while I trust that the patriotic and highly 
honorable feehng which led to its formation wdll long 
continue, I cannot conceive that it is sufficiently compre- 
hensive for the purposes we have in view. 

The members of an historical society ought to be 
numerous, perhaps unlimited. All who feel a strong 
interest in its general views ought to be admissible, and 
every inhabitant of our State ought to feel that interest. 
All should be excited to throw into one receptacle what- 
ever they possess of original or instructive matter — not 
to be locked up till it moulders into oblivion — but to be 
subject to the immediate process of careful investigation, 
till, by comparison and selection, such results may be 
drawn as our cotemporaries may receive with satis- 
faction and posterity with advantage. 

* This Society has long ceased to exist. — Editor. 



40 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

To promote these leading views, I took the liberty to 
suggest, and you have been pleased to adopt the idea, 
that certain permanent committees should be appointed, 
by some one of which most of our objects will probably 
be embraced, and to one or more of which every member 
should be attached, though not confined. 

" The national origin, early difficulties, and domestic 
habits of the first settlers," seemed at once to strike the 
mind, and were assigned to the first of these committees. 

It is impossible to contemplate without emotion, the 
original introduction of the man of Europe to the native 
of America. Color, habiliments, language, arts, and 
customs, all how unlike ! The Indian, ignorant of the 
existence of such a country as Europe, gazing with 
astonishment at a new species of beings, whose views in 
visiting him he cannot comprehend. The European, 
doubting of the reception he shall meet with, and 
uncertain whether conciliation or intimidation will be 
his best resource. 

I speak now of the first discoveries, — of the Spaniards 
to the south, the English, the Dutch, and the French to 
the north. But these strong contrasts do not altogether 
apply to Pennsylvania. Between the English colonies 
of Virginia and New England, it was conceived by the 
Swedes that there lay a tract of valuable country to 
which no European power had a claim; and desirous 
of sharing in the harvest of colonization, always allur- 
ing to European sovereigns, and in those days enthusi- 
astically pursued by most of them, Gustavus Adolphus 
could not remain inactive. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 41 

Having suffered others to precede him, little remained 
for him to appropriate ; but the accounts received of the 
easy access and natural fertility of this spot, encouraged 
him to make the attempt, and, in 1626, his ro^^al sanction 
was given, by proclamation at Stockholm, to the com- 
mencement of a colony under the usual pretences : 

1st. That the Christian religion would thereby be 
planted among the heathens. 

2d. That his majesty would, by these means, enlarge 
his dominions, enrich the treasury, and lessen the public 
duties.* 

With these new adventurers, the principle adopted 
seems to have been that of conciliation. I shall have 
occasion again to advert to it. 

The peculiar part of the present subject is the variety 
of national origin which characterized the infant colony 
of Pennsylvania. 

The settlements of New England and of Virginia 
]proper were of a homogeneous character. They were 
all Englishmen. New York and East New Jersey con- 
tained a mixture. The Dutch, originally settled there, 
remained, under their ultimate conqueror Nichols, con- 
firmed in their private property, but submitting in all 



* See Holme's History of New Sweedland, printed at Stockholm, 
in 1602, reprinted by the New York Historical Society. Vol. 2, p. .345. 
This work was translated by Mr. Du Ponceau, and published in 
1834, as a part of the third volume of the Memoirs of the Society, 
but is not of much authority. It is to be regretted that the learned 
translator did not afford us an English version of our Swedish 
historian Acrelius, Avhich has been much desired by the historical 
student. — Editor. 



42 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

tilings to the new government imposed on them by the 
authority of the Duke of York. 

On the western shore of' the Delaware, commencing at 
Cape Henlopen and extending to the Falls, a distance 
of one hundred and sixty miles, there was found a 
mingled assemblage of Swedes, Dutch, and a few English, 
whose history, though narrow, is deserving of notice. 

By these precessions the " early difficulties" of Penn's 
colonists were doubtless diminished, yet there still re- 
mained much to encounter, particularly by those who 
arrived at an ill-chosen time of the year. 

And the habits, the domestic habits, pure, simj^le, and 
industrious, attributable in respect to some to the meek 
and peaceable religion they possessed, in respect to others 
in part to this example, and in part to surrounding cir- 
cumstances, merit and doubtless will receive a full inves- 
tigation and an accurate portraiture. 

In pursuing these incjuiries the mind will insensibly 
be led from facts to persons, and all the "biographical 
notices of the founder and his family, and of the early 
settlers," which the public is not already j)ossessed of, 
will prove highly interesting, not only to their descend- 
ants, but to those who delight in tracing through all its 
recesses the history of man. 

Of the founder of Pennsylvania, though the public 
knows much, it does not perhaps know all. There is 
reason to believe that many private documents are still 
in existence, which would present to us, in colors strong 
and true, the enlightening, vivifying, and chastening 
power of his genius on all around him, Avhile the colony 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 43 

hung on liim as their judge, their legislator, and their 
guide. Their distant friends, their native homes, their 
early affections and enjo^'nients, renounced and aban- 
doned forever, were replaced and compensated, and 
heightened in all their value, not by land or Ijuildings, 
but by the presence and the overshadowing and undis- 
criminating sjTnpathy and paternal care of William Penn. 

The committee expressly appointed for this purpose 
will give and receive assistance from liberal and frequent 
communications with that first mentioned and with the 
following. 

Biographical curiosity and utility will not be confined 
to the first age of Pennsylvania. There are men who 
have revealed great superiorities of intellect, and have 
made noble advances in science, who have conceived and 
promoted sj^stems of public benefit, or have added to the 
stock of elegant literature ; many such men succeeded to 
the first class of settlers. Many such have not long been 
removed from us. We owe it to ourselves for present 
excitement and imitation — we owe it to posterity — to 
collect, before it is too late, whatever was great and 
eminent, whatever Avas singularly virtuous and wise 
among those of old, or those whose graves may still be 
marked by the freshness of the sod, or the unextin- 
guished lamentations of their friends, ^ciy, this com- 
mittee will perform a legitimate office in recording 
whatever is remarkable on the score of mere singularity. 

The irregularities of the human mind form a part of 
its genuine history. It is profitable to study and dehght- 
ful to understand the manners of different nations. In 



44 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

some degree the same pleasure may be felt and the same 
advantage drawn from contemplating the difference 
among individuals of whom nations are composed. 
There is generally, in personal singularity, much to 
avoid and condemn, but we may occasionally find some- 
thing to excuse, and even sometimes to approve. 

A fourth committee is charged with a view of the 
"revenues, expenses, and general polity of the govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania," and from its labors is expected a 
mass of historical information that may furnish useful 
assistance to present and future statesmen. 

While the public expense was small — while property 
rested on a few simple elements, before the increase of 
commerce and the consequent introduction of artificial 
intricate systems — taxation, direct or indirect, must have 
been simple. 

The supposed or real necessity of issuing the first 
paper money, its efiTects upon the people, the mode of 
redeeming it, the objects to which revenues in any shape 
were applied, will be delineated. But larger views may 
be united with these inquiries. The " general polity" of 
Provincial Pennsylvania will gradually come before us. 
We shall trace, step by step, its own internal peace and 
order and happiness in the outset j its abhorrence of all 
violence and vice. We shall inquire whether, when 
misrule or discord in any shape appeared, they were to be 
ascribed to ourselves or to some visible external impulse or 
some extraneous principle covertly introduced among us. 

And this committee will no doubt fearlessly and faith- 
fully furnish us with all that can enable us to decide, in 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 45 

what instances and from what causes there have been 
any material aberrations from the original principles and 
primary systems of a sage whose merits and whose fame, 
in every branch of civil government, have been celebrated 
over the world, and should ever remain deeply engraven 
on our hearts. 

Connected in a degree with this comniittee, but pursu- 
ing some diversity in the objects of investigation, is the 
inquiry into " the principles to which the rapid popula- 
tion of Pennsylvania may be ascribed." 

It is a general opinion that a severe oppressive govern- 
ment impedes the natural tendency of mankind to in- 
crease. Yet, this opinion has been shaken by the late 
exposure of the state of population in Ireland. Rudely 
as that unfortunate country is treated by its jealous and 
unfeeling ' masters in England, we are assured that the 
human race has nearly quadrupled itself, in the last 
hundred years. Some other principle must therefore be 
sought. Is it the facility of obtaining subsistence ? To 
this we are likewise referred by many as the true cause 
of a liberal population. Yet here again the example 
weakens, if it does not refute the position. Is it the 
consciousness of the security of individual ^Droperty? 
Alas, while the unhappy peasantry of Ireland have so 
little that they can call their own, even this little is 
rendered uncertain, by the occasional and irregular 
inroads of fiscal or ecclesiastical rapacity. 

The subject thus devolved on the committee will, 
therefore, be found not entirely to depend on the general 
polity of our government, not entirely on the fertility of 



46 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

soil or security of property; it will call for the most 
deliberate and profound investigation, it will lead to the 
most laborious and acute discriminations ; and conducted, 
as no doubt they will be, the labors of this committee 
will contribute to enlarge the stock of pubhc information 
and enlighten the universal family of man. 

Another not much less diffusive ground will be taken 
by the committee "on the progress and present state 
of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce in Penn- 
sylvania." 

From the opening of the virgin soil to receive the 
aboriginal grain by the early settler, now for the first 
time become acquainted with it, to the extensive cultiva- 
tion of the whole face of the country j from the first 
rough manufacture of domestic implements to the fabri- 
cation of almost every article of necessity or luxury; 
from the humble traffic of one plantation with another to 
the expanded commerce of the world, — how interesting, 
how instructive it will be to view the gradual and profit- 
able progress. 

Tliere will be rests and stops in the history, on which 
it may be convenient to dwell for a time. 

Thus we may consider the manufacturing and commer- 
cial history of our province down to the Peace of 17G3. 

A second stage would be down to the commencement 
of the war of the Revolution, and from that period to the 
present day. 

Statistical tables at these or some other periods, which 
the committee may on consideration prefer, will be 
acceptable adjuncts to their reports. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 47 

The progress of those Hberal and judicious plans of 
internal improvement in which so many excellent 
citizens are now zealously engaged, may also form 
proper subjects of historical report. If we do not, as 
a body, participate in their labors, we may, at last, have 
the pleasure to record them. 

Two other committees, wdiose functions are sufficiently 
indicated by their titles, wdll greatly contribute to the 
promotion of useful knowledge on points which interest 
us all. 

" The medical history of Pennsylvania" will naturally 
lead the inquirers into a view of the pharmacy and chi- 
rurgery of the natives ; with those will be connected the 
early medical practice of the colonists. 

The necessary relation of j^harmaceutics to climate and 
situation — the discoveries and improvements of physi- 
cians — the history of local or endemial diseases — the 
successive opinions that have been entertained as to 
their causes and their treatment — these and many other 
subjects will render the reports of this committee highly 
valuable to us all. 

" The juridical liistory of Pennsylvania" seems at first 
view more confined j and if we consider law merely in 
the light of positive and local obligation, the impression 
would be just. But as a general science, proceeding from 
a divine source and intended to be adapted to the nature 
of man, the earliest regulations of even the rudest 
nations, deserve attention, because they show the con- 
ception of the general system entertained at different 
times and in different places. Localities, national em- 



48 IN.AUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

ployment, and other circumstances diversify tlie appli- 
cation of principles; but the philosophic mind is gratified 
in tracing through the incumbrances of forms and modes 
of positive enactment, the great rudiments of moral 
obligation and universal law. Our first acts of legislation 
are to be expounded by the pohtical situation of the 
pro\dnce— by the subordination to the parent country, 
and the veneration naturally felt for its institutions ; by 
the strong, bold counteractions of some of those institu- 
tions, necessarily resulting from the removal to a new 
country; from the intermixture of men of a different 
origin; from the predominance of peaceful religious 
principles, and similar considerations— all of which will 
suggest to the committee that the benefit of its accurate 
researches will not be confined to one profession nor to 
Pennsylvania. 

They will enter into the history of general jurispru- 
dence, and enable future Grotiuses and Montesquieus to 
correct some of the few errors into which they have 
occasionally fallen. 

" The hterary history of Pennsylvania" is consigned to 
another committee, and let no one smile at the mention 
of the hterary history of Pennsylvania. 

It is true, that in the outset the obhgation of attending 
to the first necessities of hfe cannot be supposed to have 
left much leisure for the decorations of pohte learning ; 
and that the press (for a printing press was established 
here as early as 1686) was probably occupied entirely 
with pubhc proceedings, matters of mere business, or the 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 49 

polemical pamphlets ensuing from Keith's controversy 
with the Friends. 

But William Penn was himself a man of letters, and 
he had those about him who also possessed learning and 
delighted in books.* 

A most important branch of disquisition still remains, 
which has also been assigned to a special committee. 
It is that which relates to the aboriginal inhabitants of 
Pennsylvania, and incidentally of all this vast country. 

The true condition of the northern part of America, 
before the discoveries of Columbus, cannot now be ascer- 
tained. In the islands, he found an improved, an agri- 
cultural, and a numerous people. Hispaniola alone was 
computed to contain a million of inhabitants.f When 
Cortez boldly and unjustly penetrated into the heart of 
the Mexican Empire, he discovered an organized power, 
pursuing in tranquilHty and peace the arts of civihzed 
life; and the subsequent invasion of Peru by Pizarro 

* An account of our early institutions for the instruction of youth, 
may also be expected from this committee. Of these, the first com- 
menced under a liberal charter from William Penn, and is still in 
flourishing existence. It contributes to remove an erroneous opinion 
entertained by some, that the Society of Friends is generally opposed 
to much human learning. Their Bai-clay, their Logan, their Stotn^, 
are the proofs to the contrary. Whoever reads the book so highlv 
and justly prized by them, entitled " No Cross No Crown," com- 
posed by William Penn, while immured in the Tower, will find a 
profusion of ancient learning. And the only general history of 
Pennsylvania that has yet been attempted, was by a man of great 
erudition, a member of this Society, and the principal teacher in the 
institution above mentioned. 

f Robertson, Vol. I, p. 227, he quotes Herrera. 
4 



50 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

produced the same result. In respect to these parts of 
the great continent at that time, history is little at a loss. 
Only some obscure and remote tribes, scarcely recognized 
by the general government of the country, and in many 
cases beyond the reach of their power, remained unvisited 
and unknown. 

But of North America we have less certain knowledge. 
The first settlers, comparatively fcAv, exploring less the 
interior of the country than its harbors and its streams, 
were acquainted only with the inhabitants in the vicinity 
of their own settlements. A knowledge of those remote 
from the coast was slowly and gradually obtained. The 
Enghsh power does not appear to have set on foot any 
expedition for mere inland .discovery. 

A Spaniard (De Soto) and two Frenchmen {Be La 
Salle and Hennepin) were the only persons who in early 
times carried on expeditions through the interior, chiefly 
for purposes of discovery as well of its topography as 
of the character, numbers, and manners of its native 
inhabitants. 

It is unaccountable that no such measure was under- 
taken by the active and enlightened William Penn. 

If such inquiries had been made, if intelligent persons 
had explored the whole country from North to South, 
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi, we should 
probably be possessed of certain and valuable information 
in respect to the " names, the numbers, the habits, and 
the history" of many nations which have now wholly 
disappeared from the chart of human existence. 

It is not, however, supposed that a much greater 



INAtJGURAL DISCOURSE. 51 

degree of what we term civilization would, at that time, 
have been discovered among them. Whatever were 
their advances in moral improvement and the arts of life, 
at or before the times when those mounds and structures 
took place of which we are unable to discover the causes 
or the agents, it is possible that their inquiries would not 
have yielded full satisfaction. Yet those travellers would 
have been considerably nearer to the times of their con- 
struction ; and if, notwithstanding their efforts to be in- 
formed, doubt and obscurity still continued, it would have 
afforded further proof that the original settlement of this 
country, from whencesoever it proceeded, was of most 
remote antiquity. 

The fate of nations is not always the same. They do 
not, perhaps they cannot, consistently with the character 
of man, always continue at the same point. 

Knowledge and improvement advance slowly — the 
condition of society becomes more happy as they 
advance. When the point of extreme refinement is 
attained, the enervation of luxury generally invites 
foreign invasion. A yoke is imposed, sometimes hght- 
ened by the wisdom of civilized conquerors, some- 
times rendered heavy and oppressive by uncultivated 
barbarians. In either case the subjugated nation with 
its independence loses its ardor for a continuance and 
enjoyment of those arts and sciences which it had pre- 
^aously attained. In the latter case particularly, bar- 
barism, when it triumphs, delights to overthrow and 
eradicate whatever has formed the ornament and feUcity 
of those whom it subdues. Thus Egypt preserved, under 



52 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

the domination of the Romans, a secondary, but still a 
valuable station in the world of letters. Its rude Ara- 
bian conquerors, inflamed by bigotry and blinded by their 
own ignorance, overwhelmed and destroyed the remnants 
of their ancient civilization, and reduced them almost 
instantaneously to a barbarism beyond their own. There 
is scarcely a set of people now to be found more ignorant 
and degraded than the Fellahs and the Coiyts of Egypt. 

The total subversion of knowledge and improvement is 
perhaps always the effect of external force. Nations do 
not spontaneously relapse into rudeness and ignorance. 

During the long and absolute domination of the 
Romans in Britain, their literary cultivation and polished 
habits may have been partially communicated to the 
natives ; of this however we can speak with no certainty, 
but we are fully apprised that on the final departure of 
the Romans, the Britons soon became, perhaps, as un- 
informed and unimproved as they were before, and 
certainly more timid, helpless, and inert. Learning soon 
decayed, or was confined to their priesthood; and the 
ardor of a national spirit, the only source of national 
excellence, was wholly extmguished. 

If, from any cause, there is reason to suppose that 
science and the arts were once more highly cultivated 
in this country ; that civiUzation and improvement once 
existed in a greater degree than the first Europeans 
found them, we must attribute their decline to some 
external cause of the nature before described. 

Are those whom we found in possession the rude 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 53 

victors and final extirpators of a former population more 
enlightened and refined ? Or has there been a temporary 
occupation of the land hy a superior and improved nation 
which has afterwards migrated further south, and left 
the original inhabitants, as the Eomans left the Britons, 
to their ancient unaltered habits ? 

Heckewelder reports the Indian traditions that all this 
part of the country was conquered by the Lenapi, a 
nation from the west — whom we found in possession, and 
to whom we gave the name of Delawares. It is said to 
have been previously inhabited by the AUegewis, whom 
the Lenapis, on what is stated to be a just cause of war, 
utterly subdued and expelled. 

But what was the origin of the Lenapi ? 

The present condition of these ancient lords of the soil 
merits our close attention. If, in the fifteenth century, a 
map had been published of this part of our great conti- 
nent, and a color had been adopted to designate the 
inhabitants, we should have seen the whole surface of 
the same. By degrees, as European colonies were 
planted and extended, slender lines marked by various 
appropriated hues, would have been visible on the coast, 
gradually widening westward, till the indigenous tint 
became almost extinct. Of the many hundred thousands 
who then held this country as their own, how few, how 
scattered, and in some cases how miserable are their 
descendants. Let us for a moment place the map before 
us, and contemplate the slender number that yet remain 
eastward of the Mississippi. 



54 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

A report made by the Secretary of War, during tlie 
present year, founded on careful inquiry, reduces them 
to about 80,000. 

It would occupy too much time to give you the details. 
It is sufficient to observe that their numbers are the 
smallest in the most ancient State. Virginia is reported 
to contain but forty-seven. In Pennsylvania, though one 
of the youngest of the original colonies, I know of none, 
except the remains of Cornplanter's family, for whose use 
a tract of land was secured by an Act of the Legislature, 
in 1791. They follow agriculture, and occasionally take 
their products to Pittsburg. 

In some of our States they are kindly treated, and 
protected by the government. 

To prevent the artifices of men who might avail them- 
selves of their ignorance, they have consented to be 
legally incapacitated from aliening their lands on any 
consideration and to any persons ; and, to promote their 
civihzation and improvement, great pains are taken in 
many places to educate their children, and to instruct 
the whole of them in agriculture and the common arts 
and manufactures. 

Many pious and benevolent Christians have relin- 
quished the enjoyments of civilized life and devoted 
themselves to the endeavor to improve the inhabitants 
of these isolated communities. There seems to have 
been more encouragement for such attempts than has 
been afforded to the generous missionaries who have 
heretofore encountered the hardships of savage hfe among 
the entire tribes in their own country. These eflforts, 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 55 

after mucli counteraction from the priests and jugglers 
of tlie natives, have sometimes indeed been attended with 
partial success ; but, in the frequent revolutions produced 
by war among themselves, the encroachments of the 
whites, cessions and emigrations, the traces of improve- 
ment disappear, and the disheartened laborers have re- 
tired from the field with the feelings of the husbandman 
who sees his harvest destroyed by the violence of a tempest. 

In the smaller settlements thus patronized and secured, 
the success, though limited in extent, may be hoped to be 
permanent. On this occasion I cannot avoid adverting 
to the exemplary course pursued by the Society of Friends 
acting under the Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia. 

The once numerous tribe of the Senecas with some of 
the Onondagoes, formerly component parts of the great 
Iroquois Confederacy, now reduced to about six hundred 
and fifty persons, are seated on a small tract of land on 
the Alleghany River. It lies in the State of New York, 
and was reserved and promised to be secured to them 
forever by that State. About thirty years ago, the 
settlement attracted the attention of this rehgious society. 
It was proposed to improve at least their moral condition, 
to suppress their fondness for the chase, and their habits 
of intemperance and idleness, and thus gradually to open 
their minds to the reception of the pure religion of the 
gospel. For this purpose it was conceived, that occa- 
sional visits and exhortations would prove inadequate. 
It was determined to do more, to set them examples by 
the delegation of prudent and industrious persons who 
would settle, not among them, for that would have been 



56 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

inconsistent with the State regulations, but as near to 
them as possible ; and individuals were accordingly 
selected who devoted themselves to a task of which a 
sense of duty may be conceived to constitute the principal 
pleasure. 

Land was purchased, buildings erected, and men and 
women Friends fixed themselves upon it. Agriculture 
and some of the mechanic arts are practised and success- 
fully imitated by the natives. The women Friends have 
instructed the female Indians in such of the domestic arts 
as come within their sphere. A school is kept, and 
" j)ains are taken to impress the great duties of morahty, 
and to lead on to that state of mind which delights in 
communion with, and in the approbation of their Creator, 
the Great Spirit; but the peculiar doctrines of Chris- 
tianity have not yet generally been pressed further than 
to give lessons of reading in the Old and New Testa- 
ments." 

By these modes of proceeding the kindest affections of 
the natives have been conciliated; even the turbulent Red 
Jacket, the chief who so lately complained to the New 
York Legislature of the intrusion of Christian mission- 
aries, has expressed his approbation of the conduct of 
these Friends; and the settlement at Cattaraugus, an- 
other Indian reserve, at the distance of thirty miles, 
have strenuously urged the Society to open a school 
among them also. 

Here we see the spirit of Penn. His system seems to 
have been to soften and enlarge the Indian heart, before 
attempting to press upon it those sublime doctrines 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 57 

which could not be immediately comprehended; and it 
has been pursued to the happiest eftects by this benevo- 
lent society, in their quiet unassuming manner, without 
calling on the public for assistance or applause. ''^ 

Among some of the southern Indians, the same bene- 
volent efforts have been pursued on a large scale, at the 
expense of the United States. f 

From these pleasing contemplations we turn with 
regret to those different opinions which seem to prevail 
among some of our fellow citizens : opinions which are 
likely, unless they shall be overjDowered by mild, good 
sense and calm reflection, to produce consequences inju- 
rious both to our peace and reputation. 

It would be rash to assert, that, in the comparative 
estimate of the original and the now predominant popu- 
lation of America, society has not been a gainer by the 
vast ascendency of the latter. 

It would be the folly of enthusiasm to conceive that 
if this part of our great continent still remained in the 
exclusive possession of its ancient inhabitants without 
an alteration of their ancient manners, the general 
interests of man would be promoted. No, the great and 
glorious spectacle exhibited by the formation of the 
United States into one body, by her attainments in 
science, her self-defence in war, her rational principles 



* The missionaries among the Choctaws, established in 1817, arc 
understood to have adopted the same course. 

f See the message of the President, March 30, 1824, and the 
report of the Secretary of War, attached to the subsequent message 
of January 17, 1825. 



58 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

of liberty, and her novel and sublime system of govern- 
ment, would have been unknown to the world, but for 
the discovery and settlement of North America. 

The permanent basis of every government must, how- 
ever, be the principle of justice. 

Have we then justly acquired a right to the soil on 
which we tread — on which we have erected our edifices, 
established our political systems, and proclaimed our- 
selves to the world, a free, a sovereign, and an enlight- 
ened people ? 

The inquiry, in itself, is highly interesting ; and, as it 
leads to an examination of our ancient history, is, for 
this Society, not improper. 

A right to the soil depends on the mode by which 
possession was acquired. It is only by mihtary conquest 
or voluntar}^ cession, that the rights of the original occu- 
pants are divested. But if the conquest is made by 
invaders without right, the title is as illegitimate as the 
war by which it is acquired. Such acquisitions, founded 
only on superior force, are destitute of moral sanction, 
and do not extinguish the original rights of the prior 
occupants. 

The Europeans could claim no right by conquest, for 
they had received no previous injury to justify a war. 
The natives of this continent were utterly ignorant even 
of the existence of such a place as Europe, till we poured 
upon them our adventurers, our refinements, and our 
vices. 

There was, therefore, no pretence for depriving them 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 59 

of their laud, except the feeble one that, although in 
their actual sovereign possession, their modes of making 
use of the soil were such as gave them no title to it. 
That is, that they did not till the ground, nor hve in 
condensed bodies ; but, depending on the chase, roamed 
loosely and at large, over the vast tracts which they 
ignorantly supposed were their own. For we may dis- 
miss, with a sigh at human perversity, the still less 
founded allegation, that the extension of the Christian 
reUgion would justify the seizure of the property, and the 
destruction of the persons of the natives. 

Let us then bestow a short consideration on the other 
supposed justification of European right to divest Ameri- 
can proprietors. 

A few principles will be concisely laid down : 

1. Property is another word for dominion. The right 
to hold, to regulate, to dispose of lands, or any other 
subject. 

2. We read in holy writ, that God gave to Adam 
dominion over the earth. Dominion thus became a 
quality incident to rational existence, — it was given to 
man alone, and it was given without qualification or 
restraint. 

3. If we can discover no restriction in the first dona- 
tion, where else are we to look for it ? If we do not find 
it in the outset imposed as a condition upon man, that he 
shall raise his o\^^l subsistence by the cultivation of the 
soil or the domestication of animals, we can find no 
power elsewhere to impose such a condition. 



60 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

4. Nations are moral entities^ knowing no superior coer- 
cive power, but bound, for their own interests, faithfully and 
uniformly to adhere to the jDrinciples of virtue and justice. 

The advantages derived from mere power continue 
only as long as the power continues. The advantages 
of pursuing a course of virtue and justice are certain and 
permanent. 

What would be unlaw^ful in an individual would be 
unlawful in a nation, and the latter is not exempted from 
its obligation by not being subjected to that coercive 
power which restrains or punishes the individual. 

We may, therefore, consider it as an axiom, that one 
nation depriving another of its property by a mode which 
would be unlawful in an individual is no less guilty than 
the individual would be. 

5. A nation has no right to seize lands within the 
known limits of another nation, under the pretence that 
there are no individual occupants on it. Such lands are 
the property of the nation Avithin whose boundaries they 
lie ; and it has the sole right to grant them to others, or 
to make use of them in such way as its government may 
think proper. 

Internal causes may induce the government to retain 
them in its own hands for a time, to dispose of them in 
succession to its owai citizens, or to exclude all per- 
sons from cultivating them. In England there are 
large bodies of land which have lain waste and unin- 
habited for ages. They are considered as belonging to 
the nation, and cannot be enclosed without a legislative 



INAUGURAL DISCOUESE. 61 

act. And with us, when the Indian titles to particular 
bodies of land has been fairly acquired, the lands become, 
in point of fact, vacant, till the government disposes of 
them to purchasers. 

Our European neighbors, the British in Canada, or the 
Spaniards to the south, never had the fatuity to conceive 
that they had a right in the meantime to enter on such 
lands and appropriate them to themselves. 

A. case may however be sujoposed, but history does not, 
to my memory, furnish such an instance, of the total 
extirpation of a nation by disease, when all its lands 
would return to the bosom of nature, open to the right 
of the next occupants. There was indeed a pretence of 
this sort set up by one of our first colonies. A mortal 
disease had swept away so many of the original inhabit- 
ants, that the Plymouth Colony, considering it as they 
declared, almost a Providential preparation for their 
settlement, conceived that they had no more to do than 
to take possession of the vacancy. 

The maxim that dominium vacuum ceditw occupanti, 
was strenuously enforced, but it soon produced sangui- 
nary evidence that the case supjDosed had not happened, 
and that the nation whose lands they seized was not 
annihilated. 

Speculative writers, and some of great eminence, have 
hazarded opinions on the other branch of this subject; 
that is, the connection of the right to the soil with the 
mode in which it is employed, which in themselves would 
be of little moment, because their practical effect has 



62' INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

been but partial, were it not that late political move- 
ments among ourselves seem to have revived them with 
a formidable aspect. 

The argument is, that to promote the increase of popu- 
lation is a great principle which ought to govern all man- 
kind. And some even assert that it is a divine command 
that the earth shall be so occupied and employed, that it 
will produce and support the greatest number of human 
beings. 

The dedication of large territory to the mere purposes 
of hunting is suggested to be a scheme of direct hostihty 
to the performance of this duty. Applied to the arts of 
agriculture, or the mere pasturage of domestic animals, a 
much greater number of individuals can be raised and 
maintained on the same space of ground ; and therefore, 
a nation devoted to the chase ought, when required, to 
surrender its possessions to those who propose to raise 
grain or feed domestic animals. 

Such is the sophistry which has been applied to the 
title of the Aborigines, and it surely requires little labor 
to refute it. 

1. To subsist upon the product of the chase is forbid- 
den by no revealed law — not a passage can be adduced 
from holy writ which prohibits it. 

2. A bod}^ of men, constituting an independent nation, 
may appropriate to itself a territory not belonging to 
others, and make any lawful use of it, without being 
responsible to others for such use. It may exclusively 
pursue commerce, manufacttires, agriculture, or hunting. 
K the mode of employment is not the best adapted to its 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. G3 

own benefit, it will substitute another; but the nation 
itself must, on such subjects, be the only judge. No 
other nation has the right to require it to abandon 
one employment and assume another, and still less to 
divest it of its territory, in order that it may itself 
employ it in a better manner. 

If the dependence on the chase retards the increase 
of population, it is an evil which in time will produce its 
own redress. The natural tendency of the human mind 
is to pursue its own improvement and attain the greatest 
possible share of happiness. This impulsive principle 
has produced all the knowledge, science, and prosperity 
now in existence. It operates more slowly or more 
rapidly according to surrounding circumstances. A 
severe cHmate and a forbidding soil may long delay it. 
A genial sky, a fertile territory, unimpeded by foreign 
causes, will insensibly lead to meliorations of the ' mind, 
to the sweetness of domestic attractions, and to employ- 
ments less erratic and more productive than hunting. A 
nation has the legal right to retain the means of such 
voluntary changes in its own hands. It ought not to be 
deprived of the chance of future, though perhaps very 
distant civilization, by its own procurement. 

Whatever weight there may be in the ^Dreference of 
one mode of employment to another, it is an abuse to 
apply it to the subversion of national rights. If such 
rights are to be prostrated, and those who make the best 
use of the land by the most skilful refinements of art are 
entitled to possess it, the right of possession would be 
ever unstable and transient. The people of England and 



64 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

France are probably the best farmers in Europe : in their 
hands, a given quantity of land will maintain a greater 
number of people than it would under the management 
of an equal number of Spaniards or Hungarians. Will it 
be pretended that the French or the English have, there- 
fore, a right to seize the less productive fields of Spain or 
Hungary ? Nay, if this principle is established as a rule 
for the conduct of nations, must it not also extend to 
private life and individual property? Would not the 
skilful and industrious farmer be entitled to drive away 
one who was less acquainted with the art of agriculture 
or who neglected it altogether? The man of wealth 
throws a large portion of his country estate into pleasure 
grounds, — the anxious farmer in his neighborhood could 
produce enough on the same gromids to subsist one 
hundred persons. Was it ever conceived that he had 
a right to destroy the palings of the park and plough up 
the lawn of his luxurious neighbor ? 

As we bring the subject home by familiar example, 
we see its absurdity; and the Indians themselves have 
adopted the same reasoning. 

When the Commissioners of the United States, at the 
instance of the State of Georgia, were urging the Chero- 
kees to sell the remainder of their lands, they observed 
to this intelligent nation, that " the Great Father of the 
Universe must have given the earth equally for the 
inheritance of his white and red children." 

The three chiefs who conducted the correspondence on 
the other side, modestly replied, " We do not know the 
intentions of the Supreme Father in this particular, but it 



I 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 65 

is evident that this principle has never been observed or 
respected by nations or by individuals. If your assertion 
be a correct idea of his intention, why do the laws of 
enhghtened and civilized nations allow a man to mono- 
polize mote land than he can cultivate."* 
. It is the honor of our country, that its practice hereto- 
fore has generally, though not without exceptions, been 
in accordance with the existence of the Indian rights, 
notwithstanding the manner in which they make use of 
the soil. 

In taking a short view of the course pursued in the 
different provinces, it will be perceived that William 
Penn did not first set the example of these acts of 
strict justice, although he closely conformed to the best 
examples of others. 

In Europe, he has frequently been applauded for 
having led the way ; but he, himself, never claimed this 
credit, and his other merits are sufficiently great to bear 
the destitution of this. It is one of the offices of history, 
and will be one of the leading objects of the present Insti- 
tution, to combine fidelity of narration with industry of 
research. Our Pennsylvania pride may be affected by 
the confession, but it would not be honest to retain in our 
plume a single feather that is not our own. 

Beginning with the northern colony of New Ham^> 
shire (for Maine was only a part of Massachusetts), I find 
that so early as 1629, they purchased of the natives what 
appears to have been considered the entire area of the 

* See the President's Message of March 30, 1824, with the docu- 
ments appended, p. 25, 21. 
5 



bo INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

province, " acquiring thereby," says the respectable Bel- 
knap, " a more valuable right, in a moral view, than any 
European prince could give."* 

Of Massachusetts, I find it difficult to speak. Two 
years after this transaction in New Hampshire, "the 
Governor and Deputy of the New England Committee for 
a Plantation in Massachusetts Bay," wrote out from Eng- 
land to the colony in the following terms : 

" If any of the. Salvages pretend a right of inheritance 
to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we 
pray you to endeavor to purchase off their title, that we 
may avoid the least scruple of intrusion. "-I* 

It is reasonable to suppose, that if this course had not 
been previously pursued, it would then have been 
adopted 5 but, from the following passage in Hutchinson, 
one of their historians, it does not appear that such pur- 
chases, if made, were in all instances fairly conducted. 

Hutchinson, when speaking of the famous King Philip, 
who gave these colonists so much trouble, says, "Although 
his father had at one time or other conveyed to the Eng- 
lish all that they were possessed of, yet PhiHj) had sense 
enough to distinguish between a free, voluntary covenant, 
and one made under duress." 

A conveyance from one of the Indians is, indeed, given 
by the Historical Society of Massachusetts.^ It is from a 

* Belknap's History of New Hampshire, Vol. I., p. 12. See also 
p. 10 and 128. The deed itself is set forth at full length in Hazard's 
Historical Collections, Vol. I., p. 272. 

t See Hazard, Vol. I., p. 263. 

X Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. IV, 
New Series, p. 266. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 67 

person of the name of Philip, and without a date, for what 
seems to be a small tract of land. And from the curious 
account which we have of the dispute between the cele- 
brated Roger Williams and the Plymouth Colony, it 
would appear, that the practice of purchasing was but 
partially exercised. When he remonstrated against the 
injustice of depriving the Indians of their lands without 
a reasonable compensation, they answered, as I have 
before observed, " That God having shortly before their 
arrival, swept away many thousands of the natives, they 
had a right to occupy the vacant territory;" to which 
they added, "That if the natives complained of any 
sti-aits put on them, we gave satisfaction in some payment 
or other to their content." They also assumed the unten- 
able ground, that an agricultural nation had a right to 
possess itself of territory employed merely for the purpose 
of hunting ; and when Wilhams inquired by what right, 
upon this prmciple, noblemen and men of great landed 
property, in England, could justifiably set hunting- 
grounds apart for their own use, their feeble reply was, 
that in other respects those noblemen and gentlemen 
rendered great services to the community. Williams was 
compelled to leave the colony on account of this and 
other errws of opinion. He retired with some adherents 
to Narraganset Bay, where he commenced a settlement 
called Providence, and, with laudable consistency and 
before he broke ground, made a full purchase of the 
Indians, who were the now extinguished tribe of the 
Narragansets, then a powerful nation. This was in 
1644. 



68 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

In Connecticut, it appears that a similar course was in 
most cases pursued. Before the colony was definitively 
separated from the Plymouth and Massachusetts Govern- 
ment, a tribe of Indians on the river Connecticut invited 
the latter to form a settlement among them, in order that 
they might be protected against the warHke Pequots. In 
1632, this request was complied with; and about two 
years afterwards, the Pequots, in a treaty with Lord Say 
and Sele, surrendered a portion of their territory to him. 

The Pequots were a highminded race : the only nation 
which, in that part of the world, had refused to pay 
tribute to the Imperial Mohawks. They knew and 
valued their rights ; they foresaw the ruin that impended 
on their national existence by the introduction of a 
superior class of beings, armed with destructive weapons, 
and eager to use them. The praises due to patriotism 
and courage; the admiration we bestow upon ancient 
nations, who hazarded everything in defence of their 
rights, their Hberties, and their soil, should not be with- 
held from the Pequots. Like the Carthaginians, they 
have no historians of their own. "We take their history, 
and our impressions of their character, from the pens of 
their enemies, their oppressors and ultimate destroyers. 
If we find them soon afterwards engaged in a severe and 
bloody war with the Enghsh, we are not thence to infer 
that the Pequots were the aggressors. 

In 1635, a small Enghsh settlement was made at 
Windsor, independent of the acquisition of Lord Say and 
Sele. The Indians were considered by them as the only 
rightful proprietors, and the land was purchased from them. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 69 

In 1662, Connecticut was erected by the Charter of 
Charles II. into a separate province. John Mason, agent 
for the colony, is said to have purchased, of the Indians, 
all lands within their bounds which had not been pre- 
viously purchased by particular towns ; and he publicly 
surrendered them to the colony in presence of the General 
Assembly. 

But in this purchase the remaining territory of the 
Pequots was probably not included ; for, before this time, 
the General Court of Massachusetts had asserted their 
title by conquest, in a declaration beginning as follows : 

" "Whereas it has pleased the Lord, in his great mercy, 
to deliver into our hands our enemies, the Pequots and 
their allies, and thereby the lands and places they pos- 
sessed are, by just right of conquest, fallen to us and our 
friends and associates on the Connecticut River," &c.* 

Independent of this exception, if, in point of fact, it is 
an exception, it is gratifying to perceive that Connecti- 
cut is to be added to the list of those who acknowledged 
and fairly acquired the Indian rights. 

Within the province of New Netherlands, afterwards 
New York, the Dutch unquestionably purchased where- 
ever they formed settlements; and after the final con- 
quest by Nichols, the same policy was cautiously pursued 
by him and his successors. The purchases of the Dutch 
extended, as their claims also extended, beyond the 
present limits of New York. In 1632, they purchased 

* Hazard's Collections, Vol. I., p. 42t. The date is 20th of 9th 
month, 1637, a remarkable adoption of the peculiar style of a people 
against whom much severity was about that time practised. 



70 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

of the natives lands on both sides of the river Delaware, 
but to what distance we are not now informed. 

In New Jersey, this amicable course was steadily pur- 
sued. In 1669, Sir George Carteret is stated to have 
purchased the Indian rights; but they could not have 
been all their rights, for new comers were required by 
the government, either to purchase of the Indians them- 
selves, or, if the lands were already purchased, to pay 
their proportions. The practice of separate purchases 
was, however, soon found to be productive of mischief, 
and was forbidden by act of Assembly. 

We have now arrived at Pennsylvania, where we shall 
find the way already prepared, in this respect, for William 
Penn. 

The Swedes, who had superseded the Dutch in the 
occupancy of the western bank of the Delaware, had, in 
1637,* purchased from the natives a tract of land, to which 
the instructions given by Christina, the daughter and suc- 
cessor of Gustavus, to Governor Printz, who came out with 
the second colony, in 1642, refer in the following terms : 

* This is an error of date, into which several writers have 
fallen. At the time the Discourse was prepared, the existence of 
many valuable documents relating to the history of the New 
Netherlands was not known on this side of the Atlantic. 
These have since been obtained through the agency of Mr. Brod- 
head, and published by the liberality of the State of New York. 
The Swedes arrived in the spring of 1638. An examination of the 
Letter from Jerome Ilawloy, Treasurer of Virginia, to Mr. Secretary 
Windebanke, and of the Protest of Kieft, Director-General of New 
Netherlands, will, we think, fix the date of arrival in April of that 
year. See Ferris' Original Settlements on the Delaware, p. 32, &c. ; 
Hazard's Annals of Penn, 42, 44, 48 ; Documentary History of 
New York, edited by Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, Vol. III., 20.— Editor. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 71 

" When the Governor shall, God wilhng, arrive in New 
Sweden, he must carefully observe that the limits of the 
country which our subjects possess by virtue of the con- 
tract made with the savage inhabitants as legitimate 
owners of it, according to the deeds, extend to the sea- 
shore at Cape Henlopen, upwards on the west side of 
Godin's Bay* and upwards on the Great South River|- to 
Mingoes Creek,J where the Fortress Christina is erected 
and from thence further along the river to a place called 
by the wild inhabitants Sanldkans,§ where the bound- 
aries are to be found." 

It is stipulated in the contract that Her Majesty's 
subjects may occupy as much of the country as they 
shall choose. 

The original deed is deposited in the National Archives 
at Stockholm. II 



* Delaware Baj. 

•j- This name was given to the Delaware River by the Dutch. It 
appears that the Indians called it Mackerish Kitton. 

J Christina Creek, so named in honor of the Queen of Sweden. 
The fort stood near the present site of Wilmington, Del. — Editor. 

§ Now the Falls of Trenton. 

11 I have this information from my venerable friend Dr. Collin. 
See also a curious little book entitled "History of New Sweedland,"* 
reprinted by the New York Historical Society, in which it is stated, 
that a copy of this deed was read by the Swedes to the Indians, at 
Tinicum, in the year 1654. Their diiferent emotions are described 
as the names of those who signed the deeds were pronounced, rejoic- 
ing when they heard the names of persons still living, hanging down 
their heads in sorrow when they were no more. 



* The same work referred to, in a former note, as liaving been written by Cam- 
panius, translated by Mr. Du Ponceau and published by the Society. This 
touching allusion may be found on page 78, of Mr. Du Ponceau's Translation.— 
Editor. 



72 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

The Swedes erected several forts, not to defend tliem- 
selves against the Indians, but against the Dutch. A 
petty warfare took place between the two nations ; and 
the last capture by Stuyvesant, that of Fort Christina, 
completed the subjugation of the Swedes. 

The Dutch rights expired with the conquest of New 
York ; and William Penn, by the two grants which he 
received, first from Charles II. and secondly from the 
Duke of York, became proprietor of what was termed the 
three lower counties, which now constitute the State of 
Delaware, and of that great and valuable territory to 
which, against his own incHnation, the name of Penn- 
sylvania was given.* 

Before his arrival, the policy which he afterwards so 



* Although perhaps not meant, yet the impression left by the 
language of the text is that Penn objected to the name, because 
given in honor of himself He did object, but it was for another 
reason. * * * " This day my country was confirmed to me under 
the Great Seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the 
name of Pennsylvania, a name the King would give it in honor of 
my father. I choose New Wales, being as this, a pretty hilly 
country, but Penn being Welsh for a head, as Penmanmoire in 
Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckinghamshire, 
the highest land in England, called this Pennsilvania, which is the 
high or head woodlands; for I proposed, when the Secretary, a 
Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvama, and they 
added Penn to it, and, though I much opposed it, and went to the 
King to have it struck out and altered, he said 'twas past, and 
would take it upon him ; nor could twenty guineas move the under- 
secretary to vary the name, for I feared lest it should be lookt on 
as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King, as it truly was, 
to my father, whom he often mentions with praise." * * * * 
—Penn to Robert Turner, 5th 1st mo., 1681 ; Hazard's Annals, 500; 
and Register of Pennsylvania, I., 29T, and Post. p. 209.— Editor. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 73 

strictly pursued, was commenced, under his instructions, 
by Markham, his Heutenant-governor, with the assistance 
of Commissioners appointed by Penn ; and a small addi- 
tional purchase was made, or a release of some rights to 
which the Swedes had not perhaps fully attended, was 
obtained. This was in July, 1682. 

The personal arrival of the wise and benevolent 
founder was preceded by a letter to the native inhabit- 
ants, expressing, in plain and affectionate language, the 
terms on which he desired " to live with them," and in- 
forming them that he had sent Commissioners "to treat 
with them about land and a firm league of peace." Shortly 
after he landed, which was on the 24th of October, 1682,* 
we find him commencing this amicable exchange of goods 
acceptable to the Indians for land, which they were will- 
ing to cede. 

The first deed is dated June 23d, 1683 ; and, with all 
the subsequent conveyances as well to the descendants 
of William Penn as to the State after the Declaration of 
Independence, may be seen in Mr. Charles Smith's 
valuable edition of the laws, to which reference is 
easy. 

Let me here remark that by the faithful observance of 
this honest policy, Pennsylvania has been exempted from 
those domestic wars which have afflicted some of her 
neighbors. In 1756, when Kittaning was destroyed by 



* This is the date of his arrival at the Capes. On the 27th, 0. S., 
he arrived before New Castle ; landed there on the 28th, and took 
formal possession of the territory. On the next day, he arrived at 
Upland, now Chester. — Editor. 



74 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

Colonel Armstrong, and * during the Revolution, when 
part of our State again became the theatre of war, the 
Indians were seduced and employed by foreign nations.* 
Fifty years before the date of our Charter, the adven- 
turers under Calvert, after a view of several parts of the 
country mthin the chartered limits of Maryland, fixed on 
a place called Yaoeomoco, of which they made a free and 
fair purchase from the natives, and where, under the 
name of St. Mary's, they established the seat of govern- 
ment. The same course was afterwards regularly pur- 
sued, except during a short interval commencing in the 
year 1642, when the Indians, incited and misled by some 
of Lord Baltimore's enemies, commenced a war, on the 
conclusion of which, however, measures so moderate and 
prudent were adopted, that the most perfect satisfaction 
on the part of the natives universally prevailed. 

Of the course pursued by Virginia, I should be at a 
loss, without the information of Mr. Jefferson, to give any 
certain account. Captain Smith's own narrative, and the 
histories of Beverley and Stithe, afford little satisfaction 
in this respect. 

In the " Notes upon Virginia," Mr. Jefferson's language 
is as follows : " That the lands were taken from the 
natives by conquest, is not so general a truth as is sup- 
posed. I find in our histories and records repeated 
proofs of purchase, which cover a considerable part of the 
lower countiy, and many more would doubtless be found 

* See Kilty's Landholder's Assistant, printed at Baltimore, in 
1808. Mr. Kilty was register of the Land Office for the Eastern 
Shore, and his book contains much useful information. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 75 

on further search. The upper country, we know, has 
been acquired altogether bj purchases made in the most 
unexceptionable form." 

In respect to the two Carolinas, their early history 
presents a fluctuating view of alternate fair dealing and 
cruel outrage. 

I collect generally from Chalmers/' that the emigrants 
from the northern settlements to Carolina made pur- 
chases of the Indians, and their example w^as probably 
followed by those who migrated from Europe. Hewitt, 
who, in 1779, published a history of these provinces, 
describes the early settlers as involved in constant war 
with the natives. Yet he vaguely alludes to private 
purchases from them. The first treaty made by the 
government, denoting any measure of this sort, was 
in 1721 ; and, in 1750, another was made to the same 
effect. 

An anecdote in relation to Lawson, surveyor-general 
of North Carolina, seems to confirm the fact of some 
acquisitions having been fairly made. Having ventured 
himself among a tribe at a distance from the coast, he 
was seized and formally put to trial on a charge of 
having surveyed lands beyond their cessions, condemned 
and executed. His fellow traveller, a Swiss Baron, who 
had a large settlement of his countrymen at or near New 
Berne, was liberated. We may, therefore, suppose that 



* P. 516. But there is no doubt that some part of the lands on 
the coast were claimed as acquisitions by conquest. Although Wil- 
liamson says, generally, that the settlers there purchased of the 

natives. 



V 



76 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

the domains of the latter were within some ceded 
territory.* 

When the spirited and philanthropic Oglethorpe led a 
colony to Georgia, he began by purchasing of the Indians. 
But the tranquillity of his settlements was much dis- 
turbed by the Spaniards ; and I am in want of materials 
to give a satisfactory account of their further procedures 
in respect to the acquisition of Indian rights. 

Thus, generally, was an Indian title recognized by the 
early colonists from whom we proceeded, and under 
whom the right on which our property depends is 
derived. 

The Kevolution took place : provinces became States, 
and each State was admitted to be commensurate in 
boundary with the province. The United States suc- 
ceeded to the rights of the British Crown. Whatever 
the latter was entitled to, and had not granted away, 
became the property of the United States. 

The lands not yet ceded by the Indians, now became 
the subjects of amicable purchase, either by the particular 
State or by the United States ; and from the era of our 
Independence, the pretence of acquisition in any other 
mode or of right on any other principle, is not to be 
found in the acts of the General Government. 

Of this rule of proceeding very honorable evidence is 
afforded in the treaty of 1814, made by General Jackson 
with a part of the Creek Nation. Although these deluded 

* Williamson, p. 192, and app. 285. This Lawson had published 
in London, in 1109, an account of a voyage to Carolina, in which he 
speaks of the Indians with asperity and contempt. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 77 

men were wliolly defeated, and their country entirely in 
our possession, so that, by the laws of war, the right by 
conquest was complete, yet the United States, instead of 
expelling them from their homes, entered into a fair 
treaty with them, accepted a cession of part of their 
land, and guaranteed to them the integrity of all the 
remainder. 

It is not particularly connected with the subject before 
us, yet it is not improper to add, that the vanquished 
being reduced to extreme want, the United States,, with 
a noble humanity, engaged to provide for them the neces- 
saries of life till the croj)s of corn became competent to 
furnish the Nation a supply. 

Can a similar instance be found in the annals of Europe ? 

Yet still, although their political rights are thus recog- 
nized, the moral condition of those of the natives who 
are near to our settlements is generally unhappy. The 
regular advance of the whites, the gradual diminution of 
their territory by sales which they feel the necessity of 
making^ the conviction that this corrosive process is in 
its nature irresistible, produces among the remnants of 
those tribes which are still addicted to ancient habits, 
dejection and despair. 

The gentlemen who accompanied Major Long in his 
Second Expedition, observe, " That formerly the Indian 
was sparing in killing game, but at present he considers 
himself a stranger in the land of his fathers, — his pro- 
perty daily exposed to the encroachments of the white 
man, — and therefore, he hunts down indiscriminately 
every animal he meets, doubting whether he will be 



78 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

permitted in the ensuing year to reap the fruits of hi3 
foresight during the present."* 

But it is melancholy to reflect, that relief from these 
apprehensions is not certainly attained by the Indians 
adopting other modes of employment, but by their 
becoming civilized and Christians. 

One of the southern nations, to which I have already 
alluded, has relinquished its ancient appetite for war and 
dependence on the chase; has industriously applied it- 
self to the regular labors of agriculture and the cultiva- 
tion of the arts. Its youth are educated in the Christian 
rehgion, and its country exhibits one smiling prospect of 
cultivated fields, substantial dwelhngs, and prosperous 
industry, under a government regularly organized, and 
laws wisely made and actively enforced. Yet even these 
are now trembling for their own security. Of the em- 
plojnnent of actual force they are not apprehensive, but 
they continue to be constantly and earnestly solicited by 
the United States, at the instance of a State Avhich I 
have already mentioned, to exchange these lands for others 
that shall be assigned to them beyond the Mississippi. 

Some portions of these people, seven or eight years 
ago, assented to our request, and removed to a barbarous 
neighborhood, where they have had to experience all the 
primeval difficulties of savage life, increased by the 
jealousy and dislike of the old inhabitants. The latter 
had indeed previously made a cession to our General 
Government, which it was hoped would secure a peace- 

* Keating's account of Long's Second Expedition, Vol. I., p. 232. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 79 

able reception for the emigrants ; but the fierce habits of 
the Osages and Arkansas, the reduced dimensions of 
their territories, and the frequent coUision of their 
hunters, have produced effects that were not fore- 
seen.* 

To the ill result of this first experiment the Cherokees 
now frequently appeal ; and while they humbly and fer- 
vently solicit to be permitted to remain in peace and 
quietness, to enjoy the advantages they derive from their 
own internal improvements, they inquire why the United 
States will still urge them to abandon the blessings 
which, at their suggestion, were sought for and ac- 
quired. 

" When the Indians themselves (said a Cherokee chief 
in 1822, in a letter which has been printed verhatim, from 
his own MS.) seem to manifest a thirst to reach after the 
blessings and happiness of civilized life, I cannot believe 
that the United States Government will continue the 
lukewarm system of policy in her relations with the 
Indians, as has been hitherto adopted, to effect the pur- 
pose ; of removing nation after nation of them from the 
lands of their fathers into the remote wilderness, where 
their encroachments on the hunting grounds of other 
tribes has been attended with the unhapjpy consequences 
of quarrels, wars, and bloodshed. Has not this been the 
result of the removal of part of our own nation to the 
Arkansas ? Yes, the uplifted tomahawk is now wielding, 
and the scalping knife is unsheathed between the Arkan- 

* See President's Message, March 30th, 1824, p. 57. 



80 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

sas, Cherokeea, and Osages, for the horrid destruction of 
each other."* 

These anxious and unhappy men might ask us another 
question. What security shall we have, they might say, 
if, in compliance Avith your entreaties, we surrender the 
remnant of our lands, and remove to a rude country and 
a bad neighborhood ? What security shall we have that if 
we do not relapse into our ancient barbarism, but continue 
as we now are, industrious and successful agriculturists, 
you will not again invade us with your urgent entreaties 
to cede to you all that we may have a second time re- 
claimed from nature and improved by art, and to plunge 
into more distant wildernesses, to suffer more distressing 
privations, and to encounter more destructive hostihties ? 

To such an inquiry it would be m vain to answer that 
the United States will solemnly guarantee to them the 
perpetual and undisturbed possession of the new terri- 
tories they are sent to enjoy. Alas ! they would reply, 
here, holding up the treaty of Holst(m,-\ here is the solemn 
guarantee of the land we are now seated on, — the solemn 
assurance that we and our children may consider it as 
our own forever. On this faith we have struck our 
ploughs into the ground, and erected houses like your 
own in our fields. We have copied your manners, have 
educated our children, and many of us have adopted your 

* See the letter at length, at page 399 of Dr. Morse's Report to 
the Secretary of War. See also the negotiations between the Chero- 
kees and the Commissioners of the United States, communicated to 
Congi-ess by the President, March 30th, 1824. 

f This treaty was made July 2d, 1191. See also the treaty of 
Telico, October 2d, 1798. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 81 

religion. There seems to be no bounds to the expansion 
of your population. Remove us beyond the Mississippi, 
in a few years you will surround us ; drive us beyond the 
mountains to the great western ocean, you will follow us 
there, and the impossibihty of a further flight will be the 
only limit of our miserable pilgrimages.* 

K this is no exaggerated picture, it becomes a matter 
of grave consideration to ascertain the course which ought 
to be pursued by us. 

We may consider the Cherokees, for of them alone I 
speak at present, as an independent nation found by us 
in possession of the soil on which they are now seated. 
We have seen them relinquish the ancient wild habits of 
the chase, and adopt the usages of civiUzed men ; we have 
led them to the change ; we have taught them the arts, 
supphed them with the materials, and exhorted them to 
the essay. Towards us, they are peaceable and friendly ; 
to all foreign nations, they are inaccessible : we have, 
therefore, nothing to fear from them. 

Why should we deny to them the full benefit of the 
unchecked tide of civilization? Why, with boundaries 
distinctly marked and solemnly guaranteed, should not 
the white population be content to occupy what the 
Indians have already given up ? 

The little spot retained by the Cherokees is all they 



* The Creeks, in 1824, observed, that encroachments are making 
on their lands ; and what assurances (they ask) have we that similar 
ones will not be made on us hereafter, if we accept jour offer and 
remove beyond the Mississippi? See Report of Secretary of War, 
February 5th, 1825. 



82 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

desire; and when they send their ambassadors to our 
government, imploring us to leave them in possession of 
their own, when we compare the humility of their 
entreaties with the justice of their claim, we cannot but 
wi&h, for the honor of our country, that they may not be 
heard in vain. It is impossible to conceive that the United 
States will be less happy or much less powerful if this small 
fragment is suffered to remain with its rightful owners. 

Against such procedures may be set in striking con- 
trast, another and very recent instance of the dignified 
and benevolent course of the United States, when left to 
act on their own impulse. Instead of fomenting and 
encouraging, among the nations of the Northwest, those 
internal wars which would accelerate their mutual de- 
struction, we have undertaken and succeeded in the 
arduous task of reconciling them to each other j and five 
powerful, and once exasperated tribes, will remember 
with gratitude the philanthropic exertions of Governor 
Clarke, and look with delight on the grave of their war 
hatchet, the Prairie des cliiens. 

Gentlemen : 

I have thus briefly submitted to you some general 
views of the objects of our Association. 

It is possible that it may hereafter be found expedient 
to enlarge the classes of particular inquiry. 

The manner in which America was originally peopled, 
may perhaps ever remain a mystery. It has exercised 
the talents of more persons in Europe than in this 
country, although one might suppose that we who are on 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 83 

the spot have better means of information and stronger 
motives for inquiry. 

It does not fall within the designated functions of the 
committee last mentioned. 

Another committee might be appointed to collect facts 
not generally known in relation to our conflicts with 
Great Britain. Time has swept, and daily sweeps away 
many of the actors, and the memory of many of their 
acts ; but much might still be collected to increase the 
materials of history. 

We have assigned to different committees the medical, 
the juridical, and the literary history of Pennsylvania. 
One of the beautiful features of our Constitution has 
always been the equality of rehgious opinions. Its theo- 
logical history would evince whether this has been an 
illusive theory, or whether it has been carried into prac- 
tical and beneficial effect. And if a comprehensive and 
judicious view was exhibited of its features and results, 
it might afford a salutary lesson to those foreign powers 
that still, in a greater or less degree, uphold and enforce 
the right of man to interfere between the creature and 
the great Creator. 

This Association is not confined to one sex. Those to 
whom society is in every respect so much indebted, — who 
confer on life its finest fehcities, and who soften and allay 
the bitterness of adversity ; whose attainments in science 
are only less frequent because they are habituated to con- 
tent themselves within the sphere of domestic duties, but 
who have so often shown that occasion alone is wanting 
for advances to the highest rank of mental improvement. 
— tJiei/ are not excluded. 



84 INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 

On this side of the Atlantic, we have fewer evidences 
of female literature than in Europe. But there can be 
no pretence for supposing an inferiority of intellect. We 
must, therefore, account for it from a difference of 
manners. The simphcity of early colonization has not 
yet been wholly worn out. The wife, the daughter, or 
the sister, have still been contemplated, like the Lares of 
ancient mythology, as only the guardians and the orna- 
ments of a sacred home. But without abridging these 
endearing characters, the wife, the daughter, and the 
sister, may be adixdtted and encouraged to cultivate many 
branches of literature ; to partake in the highest employ- 
ments of mind, and often to assist and sometimes to lead 
in the pursuit and progress of the most exalted science. 

In relation to the subjects embraced by this Association, 
the co-operation of the female sex seems particularly desir- 
able. Generally superior to man in closeness of attention and 
retentiveness of memory, many of them are living records, 
— sources of knowledge which inquiry will seldom exhaust. 

In conclusion, I have only to express an ardent hope, 
that this Society will not, like too many others, be 
marked only by vivacity of inception, apathy of progress, 
and prematureness of decay. 

In the variety of its objects, something may be found 
to interest every one. 

The treasury of literature is grateful for the widow's 
mite. Let all contribute what they can, and they will 
contribute what they ought. Let no opportunity be lost 
for throwing into the common stock, not only what may 
be collected of times that are past, but whatever may be 
of interest in relation to time that is present. 



INAUGURAL DISCOURSE. 85 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



Note, page 49. Neither William Penn nor Robert Barclay were 
educated at Seminaries established by the Society. They both 
became converts at mature age. Barclay, with paternal concurrence. 
Penn, greatly to the displeasure of his father. The observations in 
the text are, therefore, to be understood as applying to the reception 
which works of this character meet among the Friends, and not to 
the sources whence the literary knowledge was derived. 

Note, page 56. The lines between quotation marks are from a com- 
munication made to me by one of the members of the Committee. 

Note, page 69. My respectable friend Judge Lyman, of Povidence, 
who happened to be present at the delivery of this Discourse, has 
favored me with the following note, which shows that before the 
banishment of Roger Williams, some of the inhabitants of Plymouth 
Colony had, like himself, sound impressions of the Indian rights. 

The island after\Yards called " Rhode Island was purchased of the 
Indian Chief Miantonomo, in the year 1639-40, by a number of gen- 
tlemen from Boston of great respectability. They divided it among 
themselves, and formed their first settlement on the Northern part. 
After a few years, they removed and settled at Newport, which has 
been the capital of the State ever since." 



A 

MEMOIR 

ON THE 

LOCALITY OF THE GREAT TEEATY 

BETWEEN 

WILLIAM PENN 

AND THE 

INDIAN NATIVES, 

IN 1682. 

Read hefore the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
September Idth, 1825. 

BY EOBEETS VAUX. 



(87) 



MEMOIR 



LOCALITY OF PENN'S TREATY. 



No transaction connected with the settlement of Penn- 
sylvania, has higher claims upon the respect of those who 
are interested in her early annals, than the first treaty 
which was concluded between the pacific founder and the 
Indian natives, in 1682. That compact was not more 
distinguished for its justice and generosity than for the 
fidehty with which it was observed by the contracting 
parties and their descendants, for upwards of half a 
century after its ratification. 

* No topic connected with the History of Pennsylvania has been 
more thoroughly investigated than that which forms the subject of 
this paper. But the Society, believing that neither the question of 
the Site, nor the nature of the Treaty, had been settled beyond con- 
troversy, appointed Mr. Peter S. Du Ponceau and Mr. J. Francis 
Fisher to report upon a communication from Mr. John F. Watson, 
entitled " The Indian Treaty for the Lands now the Site of Phila- 
delphia and the adjacent country." These gentlemen, after great 
care and research, prepared a History of the Treaty, which is to be 
found in the third volume of the Memoirs. 

The examination did not, however, rest here, but the subject was 

(89) 



90 MEMOIR ON THE 

The negotiation itself, in all its features, has no parallel 
in history. A few defenceless men holding council in the 
midst of the wilderness, with chiefs and warriors and 
assembled tribes of aborigines, whose numbers and dis- 
positions could not have been known, was surely a novel 
experiment. Yet such was the purity of their character, 

again discussed in the Address of Mr. Granville John Penn, and the 
Reply of Mr. H. D. Gilpin, on the occasion of the presentation by the 
former "of (to quote his words) the Belt of Wampum which was 
given to the Founder of Pennsylvania by the Indian Chiefs, after his 
arrival in this country, confirmatory of the friendly relations which 
were then permanently established between them." (Vol. VL, of 
Memoirs.) 

The question of the Site of the Treaty still remain* a matter of 
tradition ; no positive proof has been afforded, and perhaps can never 
be presented. 

Some have expressed surprise that a fact so interesting should 
not have been established by the recorded testimony of Penn or 
of his cotemporaries. Tradition, as we remarked, has fixed the very 
spot of the occurrence. That it took place under the great Elm, is 
the accepted conclusion ; although, it is to be presumed, there were 
trees upon the spot even more ancient than this, which was sup- 
posed to have been one hundred and fifty-five years old in 1682. 
Only positive proof to the contrary would at this day dislodge 
the general belief But if it was under this particular tree that 
the Treaty was made, and not under a grove, which perhaps 
stood around it, why is the circumstance not recorded somewhere ? 
that the history of a tree so celebrated should have been traditional, 
when that of many, no more famous, is established by abundant 
recorded testimony? Nor can we understand why the Indians, in 
their numerous subsequent conferences, and with which our annals 
are filled, — a race so strong in their feelings of association, in 
their fondness for designating places and streams the most insig- 
nificant, so apt to draw their illustrations from material objects,— 
should not, in speaking of their great father, Penn, and his great 
Treaty with them, have pointed to this Tree as the living embodi- 
ment and proof of an event on which they so much loved to dwell. — 
Editor, 



LOCALITY OF PENn's TREATY. 91 

and the magnanimous quality of their aims, that the 
naturally untamed and misgiving tempers of the sons of 
the forest were checked and meliorated in the presence 
of Penn and his companions ; and the negotiations were 
conducted, on the part of the natives, in a spirit of 
candor and gentleness, which might be advantageously 
followed in the diplomatic discussions of more polished 
nations. 

This primitive act, on the part of the lawgiver of 
Pennsylvania, has received the warmest applause of the 
wise and good, and the poet and the painter have 
employed their genius in celebrating it in the charms of 
verse, and by the graphic and glowing illustrations of the 
pencil. The precise spot where this deed of concord was 
sealed cannot fail to be an object of deep interest to the 
present and for all succeeding generations. Tradition 
tells us, that the treaty of 1682 was held at Shacka- 
maxon, under the wide-spread branches of the great Elm 
Tree which grew near the margin of the Delaware, and 
which was prostrated during a storm, in the year 1810. 
Some doubts, however, have been recently suggested, 
which are calculated to unsettle the long-received o2)inion 
that Kensington was the scene of the memorable negotia- 
tion ; and, as the only mark by which the locality was 
designated is removed, it is probable that the lapse of 
time, with other concurrent circumstances, may hereafter 
render the fact equivocal, and perhaps cast over it the 
veil of obUvion, should the evidence which remains pass 
away uncollected and unrecorded. 

Those who have speculated upon this matter allege, 



92 MEMOIRONTHE 

that the treaty took place at Upland or Chester, the 
interesting theatre where the " Gi^eat Laiv" was given, 
and where the first Assembly of the representatives of 
the freemen of Pennsylvania convened soon after the 
arrival of the founder, in 1682. I have sought in vain 
for proof to sustain this position ; and if testimony were 
wanting to establish the place of the treaty to have been 
at Shackamaxon, the probabihties are all against Upland. 
The Swedes had been in possession of the country 
upon the Delaware, and many settlements were formed, 
from the bay to some distance northwardly of Tinicum 
Island, several years before the grant of Charles II. to 
William Penn ; and although those worthy people gene- 
rally maintained a good understanding with the natives, 
they nevertheless deemed it proper to adopt warlike 
modes of defence against any surprise or descent upon 
their habitations. Block-houses and other means of 
resistance were, therefore, established at various points 
on the territory occupied by the Swedes, and Upland was 
within the fortified limits. For the convenience of the 
European inhabitants who were to become the subjects 
of his government, and whom Penn found on the soil 
when he arrived, was no doubt the reason why Upland 
was adopted as the temporary capital of the province; 
but no one who is familiar with the character and jDur- 
poses of the benevolent ruler, will susjDect his discernment 
or question the consistency of his pacific principles, by 
supposing that he would have asked the natives to treat 
with him at a place which was protected hy military 



LOCALITY OF PENn'S TREATY. 93 

The following letters, whilst they go to confirm the 
opinion that Chester was not the treaty ground, also 
support the tradition concerning its having been at 
Shackamaxon. They are likewise highly interesting 
and valuable, on account of the historical information 
which is incidentally communicated by their venerable 
authors. 

My Eespected Friend: 

After asking thy excuse for so long delaying to answer 
thy letter of the 5th inst., and which was partly occa- 
sioned by my desire to furnish thee from the papers in 
our possession, with some evidence that the original 
treaty was held at Shackamaxon, under the shade of the 
venerated Elm, which I have no doubt was really the 
case, notwithstanding that I have not been able to find 
the casual mention of the circumstance in our papers, for 
it would probably have only been casual, James Logan 
not attending the Proprietor until his second voyage 
hither. The family of Penn in England could, I should 
suppose, furnish proof of the plac'e where this transaction, 
so honorable to their illustrious ancestor, was held, to- 
gether with many other particulars highly gratifying to 
those who delight to look back upon the infancy of our 
State, — for I have no doubt but that they possess a very 
great mass of information on every subject connected with 
the establishment of the colony. 

I never could account for the propensity of some to 
unsettle every received opinion, either on subjects which, 
though speculative, are of the highest importance to the 



94 MEMOIRONTHE 

comfort as well as to the well-being of every individual, 
and to society ; or on those minor topics, which, like the 
present instance, have afforded so much innocent satis- 
faction in consecrating, as it were, a local spot, sacred to 
the recollection of the dignity of moral virtue. But, in 
the present instance, I believe they have nothing on 
which to found their opinion, that the first treaty was 
held at Chester. My honored mother was born near to 
that town, and passed the first part of her life there ; was 
well acquainted with its oldest inhabitants, some of Avhom 
had been contemporaries of William Penn, and, I may 
add, was well qualified, from her inquiring mind and 
excellent memory, to have known such a tradition, had 
it existed, which she would have treasured up and often 
mentioned, with that of the proprietor's residence at 
Eobert Wade's, during his first visit. The dwelling 
which was thus honored was called " Essex House," and 
stood on the other side of Chester Creek.* Its very ruins 
have long disappeared, and only two or three pine trees 
mark the spot ; and I have formerly seen a ball and vane 
which had belonged to the old building and had been 
preserved by some of the descendants of Robert Wade, 



* Mr. John M. Broomall, of Chester, became the owner of the 
premises on which stood the " Essex House," and has erected, on a 
portion of the site, a dwelling. In the progress of the work he dis- 
covered that the old well attached to the mansion had been filled up. 
He restored it, and the water from it is now used. The Historical 
Society, in 1852, celebrating, at Chester, the 169th Anniversary of 
the Landing of Penn at that place, visited this interesting spot in a 
body, and planted a tree where once grew that to which the " Wel- 
come " is said to have been moored. — Editor. 



LOCALITY OF PENN'S TREATY. 95 

wlio (I have heard) were enjomed by the will of some of 
the family to do so, in a hope of the mansion's being 
rebuilt, when they were to be again replaced on its 
turret. 

I hope, my kind friend, thee will excuse the irrelative- 
ness of the above to the question respecting the scene of 
the treaty, which had it been at Upland (now Chester), 
I think there is no doubt but it would have furnished an 
article in the Swedish records. We were once in posses- 
sion of a book of the records of the courts held under 
their government prior to the arrival of WilUam Penn, 
which (if I remember aright) my dear Dr. Logan gave 
into the hands of the late Samuel White, Esq., of Dela- 
ware, to place in the archives of that State. 
I am, with great respect, 

thy affectionate friend, 

D. LOGAN. 

Stenton, 29th 5th mo., 1825. 
Roberts Vaux, Esq. 



Philadelphia, 19th May, 1825. 
Dear Sir: 

The Swedish writings mention the treaty of Penn with 
the Indians, and their great respect for him ; but nothing 
as to the locality. Circumstances make it highly pro- 
bable that it was held at (now) Philadelphia, as being 
pretty far into the country, and, by its site, destined for 
a capital. The first Assembly being held at Chester is 
not an argument for its having been there, because 



96 MEMOIR ON THE 

Indian concerns could not have been objects previous 
to many inquiries about them. 

If a monument is to be erected, Philadelphia is, un- 
doubtedly, the proper place. 

Your respectful servant 
and friend, 

NICHOL. COLLIN. 
Roberts Vaux, Esq. 



Belmont, September 6th, 1825. 
My Dear Sir: 

At your request, but with much diffidence as to the 
subject you mentioned, to wit, the place of holding the 
first grand treaty with the Indians by WilHam Penn, I 
can only say, that from early youth to this day, I have 
always understood and beheve that the treaty in 1682 
was held at Shackamaxon, now Kensington. When a 
boy, I have resorted to the great Elm Tree, opposite the 
house in which President Palmer resided, in olden times ; 
and have always confided in the then uncontradicted 
tradition, that under that tree the treaty was held. The 
place had been an Indian village, but one less in import- 
ance than a settlement opposite thereto, at now Cooper's 
Point, in New Jersey, where a very large village or town 
had been. Indian graves, arrows, stone axes, orna- 
mental trinkets, cooking vessels, and every indication of 
Indian residence, were found on both sides of the Dela- 
ware ; but on the eastern side, in the greatest plenty. I 
never heard at that time of day, nor since, that the fact 



LOCALITY OF PENN'S TREATY. 97 

was disputed, until you now inform me that doubts exist 
on the subject. 

I can only relate my early impressions, which were 
those of my cotemporaries. I had the most authentic 
opportunities of knowing Indian history, and the trans- 
actions between the proprietaries of Pennsylvania with 
the Indians, my uncle, Richard Peters, having been 
during, I believe, thirty-five or forty years, the Secretary 
of the province and the confidential agent of the proprie- 
taries. I was much acquainted with his official duties, 
and had access to the office papers. He had the chief 
concern in the Indian Department ; and I have no doubt 
but that I could have put any question relative to 
treaties or other Indian aflfairs at rest, in my early life. 
But now I can only recall past impressions ; and those, 
as to the point in question, have uniformly been as I have 
stated. 

William Penn was one of uncommon forecast and 
prudence in temporal concerns. You will see in his 
Biography, page 121, Vol. I., that he had the precaution 
in the 8th month, 1681 (in the fall of which year he 
arrived in the Delaware), to write from London a most 
friendly and impressive letter to the Indians, calculated 
to prepare the way for his arrival among them in his 
province. No doubt, and I think I remember the early 
impression I had, that he pursued such cautionary 
measures on his first coming into Pennsylvania. You 
will see, in the same book, in Vol. II.,* that he gives a 

* Penn's Works, in 2 Vols., printed in 112Q. 



98 MEMOIRONTHE 

minute account to his friends in England, of the Indians 
in 1683; and says, that he had made himself master of 
their language, so as not to need an interpreter. This 
shows a familiar and frequent intercourse with them. I 
was pleased, in the same letter, to see that our wise pre- 
decessors used oxen and not horses in their ploughs. I 
wish the present race of farmers were equally and gene- 
rally as wise and economical. The crops were then more 
abundant than in our days. From one bushel of barley 
sown, they reaped forty, often fifty, and sometimes sixty. 
Three pecks of wheat sowed an acre. All this is, to the 
point in hand, but in favorite interlude. He gives also 
an account of the native grapes, which he eulogizes, and 
announces his intention to estabhsh a vineyard. Peaches 
were in great plenty among the natives, and very good. 

He gives an account of the Dutch and Swedish settlers, 
between whom there was much jealousy. It is well 
known that both of these settlers established forts for 
their defence against the natives, and probably to over- 
awe each other. The Dutch deemed the Swedes and 
Finns intruders. The first inhabited the lands on the 
bay; and the Swedes "the freshes of the river Delaware," 
as high as Wicacoa, within half a mile of Philadelphia. 

It appears that the seat of his government was first 
at Upland or Chester, where several of his letters are 
dated. Now I have always understood that Talks with 
the Indians, preparatory to a final arrangement by a con- 
clusive treaty, were held at Upland or Chester. But it is 
almost indisputably probable, if general tradition did not 
confirm the fact, that William Penn chose to hold this 



LOCALITY OF PENN's TREATY. 99 

treaty beyond the reach of any jealousy about the 
neighborhood of fortified places, and within the Unes of 
his province, far from such places, and at a spot which 
had been an Indian settlement, familiar to and esteemed 
by the natives; and where neither Swedes nor Dutch 
could be suiDposed to have influence, for with them the 
Indians had bickerings. This view of the subject gives 
the strongest confirmation to the tradition of the treaty 
being held at Kensington; and the Tree so much hal- 
lowed, afforded its shade to the parties in that important 
transaction. The prudent and necessary conferences or 
talks, preparatory to the treaty, if any vestiges of them 
now remain, may have given the idea that the treaty was 
held at Upland. 

The name and character of William Penn, denominated 
by the Indians Onas, was held in veneration through a 
long period, by those who had opportunities of kno^ng 
the integrity of his deahngs and intercourse, especially 
by the Six Nations, who considered themselves the 
masters of all the nations and tribes with whom he 
had dealings in his time, and his successors thereafter 
who adhered to the poHcy and justice practised by him. 
At Fort Stanwix, fifty-seven years ago, I was present 
when the Delawares and Sliawanese were released by the 
Iroqims or Six Nations (originally >e) from the subor- 
dmation in which they had been held from the time of 
their having been conquered. The ceremony was called 
"takiiig of the petticoat," and was a curious spectacle. 
When I was adopted into the family of a Tu8caro?u chief, 
at the time of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, he made to me' 



100 MEMOIR ON THE 

a speech, in the style used on such occasions, in which 
he assured me of his affection j and added, that he was 
pleased with my being "cwze of the young people of the 
country of the much respected and highly esteemed Onas^* 
which means a quill or pen. He gave to me one of his 
names — Tegochtias. He had been a celebrated warrior, 
and had distinguished himself on expeditions, toilsome 
and dangerous, against the Southern Indians. The 
feathers and desicated or preserved birds, called by the 
Indians Tegochtias, i. e., Paroqu£ts, were brought home by 
the war parties, as Trophies. The feathers decorated the 
MoccasiTis (whereof I had a pair presented to me), mixed 
with porcupine's quills, in beautifully ornamented work- 
manship. If there be anything in my Indian name of 
Paroquet, ludicrous in our estimation, I shall not be 
ashamed of it, when the great and good Penn was 
denominated, not a whole bird, but merely a quill. My 
moccasins cost me an expensive return, in a present the 
ceremony required; but I considered the singular Jwnor 
conferred on me, richly deserving remuneration ; though, 
in fact, I was more diverted than proud in the enjoyment 
of the amusing and curious scene, and had no doubt but 
that this expected remuneration was an ingredient in the 
motive leading to my adoption. 3Iy nation is reduced, as 
is all that confederacy, to a mere squad, if not entirely 
annihilated; though at that time it (the confederacy) 
could bring three thousand warriors into the field. One 
race of men seems destined to extinguish another ; and, 
if so, the whites have amply fulfilled their destiny. I 
wish, however, that the present treaty-makers had the 



LOCALITY OF PENN'S TREATY. 101 

bust of William Penn, made from the Elm Tree, with a 
scroll superscribed ^^ Perm's Exemjplary Treaty,'' constantly 
before their eyes. It would be as monitory on this part 
of their duty, as the portrait of WctsTiingtmi is exciting in 
all others. The remaining aborigines of our country are 
doomed, sooner or later, to the like extinction their 
departed predecessors have experienced. If, in any 
instance, they seem to be stationary, — begin to estabHsh 
farms, and exercise civilized occupations, — they must be 
removed (to accommodate an intruding white population) 
to the wilderness, and recover their former habits. But 
I see William Penn adopts the idea that they are of 
JeiDish origin. And, if they are of the Israehtish descent, 
it is in the decrees of Providence that, hke all other Jews, 
they must be homeless wanderers, dispersed throughout 
all the regions of the earth. Ecen now, in our day, a 
portion of these copper-colored Ishmaelites, if so they he, 
are to be compelled to wander far away, and leave their 
cultivated homes, to satisfy the sordid cupidity of specu- 
lating land jobbers. But if their fate be, in the im- 
mutable decrees of heaven so determined, unworthy 
executioners often consummate judgments. 
Very sincerely yours, 

RICHARD PETERS. 
Roberts Vaux, Esq. 



102 MEMOIR ON THE 

Belmont, November 3d, 1825. 
My Dear Sir: 

I met my old friend David H. Conyngham, a day or 
two ago. He fell into conversation on olden times, and, 
among other reminiscences, the Elm Tree at Kensington 
was discussed. Both of us remembered our boyish amuse- 
ments, and among them, our bathing at the three stores, 
and on a sandy beach near the famous Elm. It stood 
then majestically on a high and clean bank, with a fine 
area around it ; but, in a later period, the bank has been 
washed away. His recollections and mine (earlier than 
his by a few years) go back between sixty and seventy 
years. No person then disputed the fact, that this Elm 
was the tree under which Penn's Treaty was held. But 
Mr. Conyngham remembers, distinctly, the frequent visile 
ations of Benjamin Lay,^ to the scene of our sports. He 
was, as you know, eccentric and singular; but not 
deficient in understanding and chrcmicling all remark- 
able events. He must have known some of the con- 
temporaries of William Penn. After dilating on the 
worth and virtues of that good man, and particularly as 

* Benjamin Lay came to Pennsylvania in ITSl, at the age of 
fifty-four years, less than fifty years after Penn's Treaty in 1682, and 
was, no doubt, personally acquainted with individuals who knew the 
fact of the locality of that transaction. Lay's benevolent character 
and pursuits were such as to render the tree, and the interesting 
event connected with it, peculiarly gratifying to him ; and as it was 
his constant practice to cultivate and cherish, in the minds of young 
persons, a love of truth, of justice, and of good will to men, by 
familiar and forcible illustrations, I place great confidence in the 
accuracy of his knowledge in this respect. — R. Y. 



LOCALITY OF PENN'S TREATY. 103 

they applied to his treatment of the natives, he would 
call on the boys ; point to the Elm Tree; and enjoin on 
them to bear in mind, and tell it to their children, that 
under that tree Penns Treaty was held ; and they should 
respect it accordingly. 

Yours very sincerely, 

RICHARD PETERS. 
Roberts Yaux, Esq. 

It only remains for me to exhibit, what I consider to 
be satisfactory proof for confirming the generally ad- 
mitted tradition, that Shackamaxon was the scene of 
the distinguished transaction under notice. 

In Proud's History of Pennsylvania, Vol. I., p. 211, it 
is said, " Tlie Proprietary being now returned from Mary- 
land to Goaquannoc'k^' the place so called by the Indians, 
where Philadelphia now stands, began to purchase lands 
of the natives, whom he treated with great justice and 
kindness. At page 212, of the same author and volume, 
we also read, — "It was at this time (1682), when 
William Penn first entered personally into that lasting 
friendship with the Indians which ever after continued 
between them." 

Clarkson, the biographer of Penn, at page 264, Vol. I., 
Philadelphia edition, gives some account of the treaty of 
1682, and says, — "It appears, that though the parties 
were to assemble at Coaquannock, the treaty was made a 
little higher up, at Shackamaxon." The probable cause 

* "The Grove of the tall Pine Trees." — Du Ponceau. 



104 MEMOIR ON THE 

for this change of the place of meeting with the Indians^ 
was their own convenience, as well as that of the pro- 
prietor and those who attended him, as a settlement had 
been long before made at Shackamaxon, by the natives, 
and by some Europeans,* three or four years before the 
arrival of Penn in the province. The question may, how- 
ever, be put at rest by the following facts : — Our cele- 
brated countryman, the late Benjamin West, executed, 
in 1775, an historical picture of the Treaty of 1682, 
which he inscribed to the Proprietors of Pennsylvania. 
The original painting is in the possession of John Penn, 
Esq.f One of the five dignified individuals, who were 
present with the proprietor at that treaty, was the Grand- 
father of West, and the painter has given a hkeness of 
his ancestor, in the imposing group of Patriarchs. I hold 

* They were from West New Jersey, to which province many of 
the Society of Friends emigrated from Great Britain in 16*1*1. 
William Penn was one of the proprietors, and Robert Barclay, the 
apologist, was Governor of that colony. Meetings for religious 
worship and for conducting the affairs of the Society of Friends in 
that vicinity, were held at the house of Thomas Fairland, at Shacka- 
maxon, in 1681. William Penn was the chief instrument in settling 
West New Jersey, and the form of government originally prepared 
for it was the product of his highly-gifted mind. The instructions 
given to the eight Commissioners sent to lay the foundation of the 
settlement, expressly direct the purchase of lands from the Indians, 
so that this great principle of justice was avowed by Penn several 
years before his treaty of 1682. 

That Shackamaxon was an ancient Indian town, and early known 
to this description of European emigrants, who ascended the Dela- 
ware, is, I think, well established. Johii Kinsey, one of the Commis- 
sioners sent to organize the affairs of West New Jersey, died at 
Shackamaxon, in 16tT, soon after his landing. 

f It was purchased by Mr. Joseph Harrison, Jr., and is now 
owned by that gentleman. — Editor. 



LOCALITY OF PENN'S TREATY. 105 

this circumstance to be of great authority, because West 
had an opportunity of being intimately acquainted with 
all the particulars of the treaty, and it will not be ques- 
tioned that he intended to perpetuate a faithful narrative 
upon his canvas. 

After the tree was uprooted by the storm in 1810, the 
trunk measured twenty-four feet in circumference, and its 
age was ascertained to be two hundred and eigJity-tlireG 
years, having been one hundred and fifty-five years old at 
the time of the treaty. A large piece of it was sent by 
our venerable townsman, Samuel Coates, to John Penn 
of Stoke Park, in England, which he so highly valued as 
to cause it to be placed on a pedestal in one of the apart- 
ments of his mansion, with the following inscription 
engraved on a brazen tablet : 

" A remnant of the great Elm, under which the Treaty 
was held between William Penn and the Indians, soon 
after his landing in America, A.D. 1682, and which grew 
at Kensington, near Philadelphia, till the autumn of the 
year 1810, when it fell during a storm; was presented to 
his grandson, John Penn, Esq. Mr. West, who has intro- 
duced this Tree into his celebrated picture representing 
the Treaty, has mentioned a pecuHar mark of respect 
shown to it, in more recent times, in the following 
words : 

" ^ This Tree, which was lidd in the highest veneration hy 
the original inhabitants of my native cowatry, hy tlw first 
settlers, and hy their descendants, and to which I well re- 
member, about the year 1755, when a hoy, often resorting 



106 MEMOIR, ETC. 

with my scliool-fellows [tJie spot being tJie favorite one f&r 
assemhling in tlie Iwurs of leisu7^e\, was in some danger 
during the American War of 1775, when the British jjos- 
sessed the cmintry, frmn parties sent out in search of wood 
for firing ; hut the late General Simcoe, who had the com- 
mand of the district where it grew, from a regard for the 
character of William, Penn, and the interest which lie took 
in tlie history connected with the Tree, ordered a guard of 
British soldiers to 'protect it from the axe. This circum- 
stance tlie General related to me in aiiswer to my inquiries 
co7icerning it, after his return to England.' " 

If the Society concurs in opinion with me, that the 
evidence produced is satisfactory, I would suggest that 
measures be put in train for erecting a plain and sub- 
stantial Ohelisk of Granite, near where the tree formerly 
stood at Kensington, with appropiate inscriptions. 



' NOTES 

ON THE 

PEOVINCIAL LITEUATUHE 

or 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

THOMAS I. WHARTOK 
Read at a Meeting of tJie Council, Sej^tember ^\st, 1825. 



(107) 



NOTES 



PEOYINCIAL LITERATURE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



The first settlers of Pennsylvania were, chiefly, 
members of a religious society which has been sup- 
posed to decry and undervalue human learning, and to 
place hterature as well as painting and music on its 
index expurgatorim. However truly this may have been 
said of some of the early teachers of that sect, certainly 
the colonial history of Pennsylvania alBfords no materials 
for the support of the theory. It is behoved that no one 
of the States of this Union can exhibit so early, so con- 
tinued, and so successful a cultivation of letters as Penn- 
sylvania. Hardly had the emigrants sheltered them- 
selves in their huts, — the forest trees were still standing 
at their doors, — when they estabhshed schools and a 
printing press, to teach and to be enlightened : literally 
mter divas qmrere verum. Within four years from the 
time that our ancestors landed in the wilderness, a print- 



(109) 



110 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

ing press was at work in Philadelphia, sowing broadcast 
the seeds of knowledge and morahty: and only a few 
months after the arrival of William Penn, public educa- 
tion was attainable at a small expense. 

It appears, from the Journals of the Provincial Council, 
that in December, 1683, Enoch Flower undertook to 
teach school "in the town (as it was then called) of 
Philadelphia." His charges, a record of which is still 
preserved, indicate the simplicity of the period. " To 
learn to read English, four shilhngs a quarter ; to write, 
six shilhngs," &c. ; " boarding a scholar, to wit, diet, lodg- 
ing, washing, and schooling, ten pounds for the whole 
year ;"* little more than what is now paid for a single 
quarter's " schooling" alone, in some of our institutions. 

Six years afterwards, a pubHc school, or as it would 
now be called a seminary or college, was founded by the 
Society of Friends, in this city. The preamble of the 
Charter granted in 1701, proves how deeply the true 
principles of morals and philosophy were anchored in the 
minds of the founders and rulers of Pennsylvania. 
"Whereas," it recites, "the prosperity and welfare of 
any people depend in a great measure upon the good 
education of their youth, &c., and qualifying them to 
serve their country and themselves, by breeding them in 
reading, writing, and learning of languages, and useful 
arts, and sciences, suitable to their sex, age, and degree, 
which cannot be effected in any manner so well as by 
erecting puhlic scliools for the purpose aforesaid," &c. 

* Proud's History of Pennsylvania, Yol. I., p. 345. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. Ill 

Proud,* says that the poor were taught gratis in this 
institution. It is curious and instructive to compare the 
doctrines of this instrument with those which had been 
promulgated thirty years before, and were at that time 
acted upon, in a neighboring province. " I thank God," 
said the Governor of Vii-ginia, " We have not free schools 
nor printing ; and I hope we shall not have these hun- 
dred years. For learning has brought disobedience and 
heresy and sects into the world; and printing has 
divulged them libels upon the government. God keep us 
from both."t 

The first preceptor in the Friend's Public School was 
George Keith, afterwards sufficiently famous. His income 
from this office seems to be considerable for the times. 
He was allowed a salary of .£50 per annum, with a house 
for his family, a school-house, and the profits of the school 
besides for one year. For two years more his school was 
to be made worth £120 per annum. One year, however, 
appears to have been quite enough for the restless spirit 
of George Keith. He was succeeded at the expiration 
of that time by Thomas Makin, who was at one period 
Clerk to the Provincial Assembly, and whose Descriptio 
Pemisylvanioe, written in 1729, in Latin hexameters, was 
probably the first attempt to describe the institutions and 
scenery of the province in the lofty language of Rome. 
The verse is uncouth enough, and if the following notice 
of the Friend's School be not a sufficient specimen, the 
rest may be found in Proud's History : 

* Vol. I., p. 344. t Chalmers, Vol. IL, p 328. 



112 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

" Hie in gymuasiis linguss docentur et artes 
Ingenuse multis doctor et ipse fui. 
TJna schola hie alias etiam supereminet omnes, 
Romano et Graeco quse docet ore loqui." 

Makin, also, according to Proud,* wrote an "Encomiuin 
PennsT/lvanice" another Latin poem, in 1728, which, with 
the Descriptio Pennsylvanice, was found among the papers 
of James Logan, in MS., many years after his death. 
These poems are probably still among the Logan Papers, 
and if so, they may, perhaps, be procured for the collec- 
tion of our Society .f 

Printing (which the Governor of Virginia likewise had 
deprecated with so much holy horror) was introduced 
into Pennsylvania so early as 1686. It is worthy of 
remark and remembrance, that this province was, com- 
paratively speaking, far earher than her sister colonies in 

* Vol. II., p. 360. 

f It appears there were earlier attempts at Poetry, at least in 
English. Mr. Horatio Gates Jones, in his Essay on the "BiUenhouse 
Paper Mill,'''' and to which we shall more particularly refer, says : 

" The first writer who has referred to paper-making in America, is 
Richard Frame, — one of the early settlers of Pennsylvania, — who 
wrote a Poem, entitled 'A short Description of Pennsylvania ; or, 
A Relation of ivhat Things are Known, Enjoyed, and like to be Dis- 
covered in said Province.' It was printed at Philadelphia, in 1692, 
by William Bradford." 

"In 1696, another Philadelphia writer, — the Honorable John 
Holme (more frequently called Judge Holmes), who was one of 
the Magistrates of the city, and sat upon the Bench when William 
Bradford was tried for publishing George Keith's pamphlet, — also 
wrote a Poem, longer, and possessing much more merit than Frame's. 
Judge Holme refers to the Paper Mill as then in existence. I may 
here add that Judge Holme came to Philadelphia, from England, in 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. Hg 

the use of the press, and consequently in the general dis- 
semination of literature. I have already stated that a 
printing press was in operation in Philadelphia orAy four 
years after the landing of WiUiam Penn. In Massachu- 
setts, where learning and the arts have been cultivated 
with great success, printing was not introduced until 
eig]itee7i years after its settlement. Li New York, not 
miiil seventy-three je^vB after the settlement; and in the 
other colonies, not for a much longer period. 

The first printer who settled in Pennsylvania was 
William Bradford, a native of Leicester, in England, and 
a member of the Society of Friends, who emigrated in 
1682 or '3, and landed on the spot where Philadelphia 
was soon afterwards laid out, before a house was built. 
It is believed that he set up his first printing press at 
Kensington, in the neighborhood of the Treaty Tree. 
His earhest pubhcation was an Almanac, of which, as it 
is the most ancient book printed in Pennsylvanil, the 
title page may be worth copying : 



1686, and was one of the constituent members of the Philadelphia 
Baptist Church. He married the widow of the Honorable Nicholas 
More, who was the first Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and whose 
daughter became the wife of the Reverend Elias Keach the first 
Pastor of the Pennepek or Lower Dublin Baptist Church Jud-e 
Holme subsequently settled in Salem, N. J. ; was one of the Judges 
of Salem Court; and died there about the year lYOl, leaving numer- 
ous descendants. The Poem of Judge Holme bears no date- but 
from internal evidence and my knowledge of early Baptist history I 
have satisfied myself that it was written in 1696. It is styled 'A Trut 
Relation of the Flourishing State of Pennsylvania ^ and was never 
published, so far as I know, until 1847, when it appeared in the 

"Bulletin of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania." (Vol.1 No 
13, p. 72.) — Editor. ' '' 



114 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

'■'■An Mmanac for tlie year of the Christian account 1687, 
particularly respecting the Meridian and Latitude of Bur- 
lington, hut may indifferently serve all places adjacent. By 
Daniel Leeds, Student in Agricidture. Printed and sold hy 
William Bradford, near Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, Pro 
Anno, 1687." 

Of this first Pennsylvania author, Daniel Leeds, I find 
little on record. He appears to have espoused the prin- 
ciples and partaken of the fate of his publisher, Bradford ; 
and he left the province a few years afterwards, carrying 
with him no very amicable feelings towards the 'Society 
of Friends, as the following title page may testify : " A 
Trumpet sounded out of the Wilderness of America, 
which may serve as a Warning to the Government and 
People of England, to beware of Quakerism; wherein is 
shown how in Pennsylvania and there away, where they 
have the Government in their own hands, they hire 
and encourage men to fight; and how they persecute, 
fine and imprison, and take away goods for conscience 
sake. By Daniel Leeds. Printed by William Bradford, 
at the Bible, in New York, 1699." 

Bradford's residence in Philadelphia was short. He 
engaged zealously in the Keithian Controversy ; unfortu- 
nately for him, took the side of the minority, became 
obnoxious, and removed to New York in 1693, where he 
died in 1752, at the advanced age of ninety-four.* 

* An account of Bradford, who died May 23d, 1Y52, aged eighty- 
nine years (not ninety-four, as stated in the text), having been born 
May 20, 1660 (0. S.), may be found in an "Address by Mr John 
William Wallace, delivered at the Celebration, by the New York 



OF PENNSTLYANIA. . 115 

Eeligious controversy gave the first impulse to Litera. 
ture in Pennsylvania. It is a fit subject for a patriotic 
pride, that a drop of blood has never been shed in this 
State in a religious quarrel ; but it is nevertheless true 
that the usual quantity of paper and ink has been con- 
sumed on this fruitful subject; and, from the dissensions 
of 1691, down to the Catholic Controversy of 1823, pretty 
much the same sort of temper has been exhibited. The 
disorder broke out in the very infancy of our history. 
George Keith, who has already been spoken of as head 
master in the Friends' PubHc School, had no sooner been 
installed in the office of mending the grammar of the 
boys, than he set about correcting the rehgion of their 
parents. He maintained with great earnestness, that the 
" Friends," now that they had reached the elevation of 
power, and got into the administration of affairs, were, 
like most pohtical aspirants, disposed to turn their backs 
upon the ladder by which they had mounted, and had 
adopted many of the practices against which they had so 
vehemently declaimed ; and he was for recaUing them to 
what he did or affected to consider the true and ancient 
doctrine. He accused the principal functionaries of the 
Society of spiritual lukewarmness, and denounced the 
magistrates (at that time principally " Friends") for exe- 
cuting the judgments of the law upon malefactors, holding 
it to be inconsistent with the genuine faith for a believer 



Historical Society, of the 200tli Anniversary of Bradford's Birth- 
day." Printed by J. Munsell, Albany. Mr. Wallace has collected 
and skilfully arranged all that, perhaps, at this day, can be ascer- 
tained about this enterprising man. — Editor. 



116 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

to draw the sword, even tliough it be the sword of justice. 
In a word, he was, to use the language of the present 
days, — an ultra. In 1689, previous to his quarrel with 
the leaders of the "Friends," this active pamphleteer 
appears to have published a tract against the New Eng- 
land churches, which is said by Thomcis, in his History 
of Printing,* to have been the first hook printed in Penn- 
sylvania. In 1690, he entered the lists with Cotton 
Mather, and published two more pamphlets in vindica- 
tion of the Quakers. The next year saw the commence- 
ment of the internal controversy. Keith, who was a 
public preacher, had given oflfence by his lieterodox, tenets 
(at least so they were called by the elders), and, as they 
alleged, by his turbulent and overbearing spirit ; and he 
was accordingly disowned, and denied the privilege of 
speaking in the meetings of worship. Thus debarred 
from giving vent to his opinions, through the accustomed 
channel, he sought that universal refuge, the press, from 
which soon appeared several pamphlets, reflecting in no 
gentle tone upon his adversaries. A prosecution ensued, 
of which the issue .is somewhat differently narrated. 
Proud says,t that the printers of these " virulent pieces," 
Wilham Bradford and John M'Comb, were arrested by 
warrant from five magistrates, and, ujDon their refusal to 
give security for their appearance to answer for the pub- 
lication, were "nominally" only (he says) committed, 
never being in confinement, and were soon discharged, 
without having been brought to trial. On the other 

* Vol. II., p. 9, 10. A copy of it is in the possession of Thomas, 
t Yol. I., p. 3T2. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 117 

hand, it appears, from a pamphlet pubHshed at the time, 
and from which Thomas* has given copious though not 
altogether satisfactory extracts, that they were actually 
tried, after having been a considerable time in confine- 
ment.-f The jury, it seems, were discharged, having been 
unable to agree, notwithstanding a pretty decided charge 
from the court, who, if we may believe the author of the 
pamphlet, treated the prisoners with great harshness. 
They were not tried again owing to a singular circum- 
stance. It seems that the principal evidence against 
Bradford was his own set of types ; the frame containing 
which, duly composed for printing the seditious pamphlet, 
was brought into court, a very potent though dumb wit- 
ness against him. When the jury retired, they took this 
frame out with them, and not being acquainted with read- 
ing backwards, reading forward being a considerable affair 
in early times, one of them attempted to place it in a per- 
pendicular and more convenient situation, and, in so doing, 
the types fell from the frame, and so vanished the testi- 
mony for the prosecution. Bradford, after being released 
from confinement, went to New York, where, as has been 
already mentioned, he died. 

Keith's subsequent history is curious and amusing. 
He drew off with him, at first, a large number of 
" Friends," some of them of considerable account in the 
Society, and persons of rank and property. They called 
themselves " Christian Quakers ;" and if their leader had 
possessed a decent command of temper and consistency 

* History of Printing, Vol. II., p. 13, &c. 
X See Note A. 



118 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

of purpose, he might have made a serious inroad on the 
principal Society. He appears, however, to have left the 
province soon after the proceedings against him; and 
little more was heard of him until the year 1702, when 
he reappeared upon the boards in the new character of a 
minister of the Church of England, and missionary of the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In this capa- 
city, he maintained the doctrines of his new faith with a 
zeal and fervor httle short of what he had exhibited in 
defence of the primitive tenets of George Fox, vehemently 
assailed the opinions of the " Friends" on the subject of 
baptism and the communion, and stoutly maintained the 
divine right to tithes, and the necessity and excellence 
of an hierarchy. On his return home to England, he 
published the result of his travels as missionary, which 
extended from New Hampshire to North Carolina. The 
book (a small quarto volume) is entitled " A Journal of 
Travels from New Hampshire to Caratuck, on the conti- 
nent of North America; by George Keith, A.M., late 
Missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in foreign parts, and now Rector of Edburton, in 
Sussex." London, 1706. It is in the City Library, and 
is worth preservation, as displaying the character of the 
man, and something of the manner of the times. He 
appears to have been in earnest in his new calling, riding 
from one end of the continent to the other in quest of 
antagonists, arguing with Independents, AnabajDtists, 
Unitarians, Quakers, and Catholics, each in their turn, 
and giving no quarter to either, loving nothing so much 
as the hot water of theology, and laboring to prove the 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 119 

sincerity of his conversion, by the breadth of his tenets. 
Unfortunately for his love of notoriety and distinction, 
he met with no further persecution ; and the ex vitrei or 
" Christian Quaker," now " Rector of Edburton, in Sus- 
sex," was suffered to return to England without moles- 
tation, either from Cotton Mather or Pennsylvania 
justices. 

Although it is the object of these sketches to notice 
only the literary works of Pennsylvanians, published 
in Pennsylvania, yet it seems not entirely irrelative to 
the subject to revive the recollection of books relating to 
the province, though published elsewhere. In 1698, was 
printed in London, an* amusing little volume, entitled 
> 

^^An Historical and Geographical Account of the Pi-ovince 
and Country of Pennsylvania, and of West New Jersey, in 
America, &c. With a Map of both Countries. By Gabriel 
Tliomas, wJu) resided there ahout fifteen years." * 

The author informs us that he came over to the pro- 
vince in the first ship bound from England here, since it 
received the name of Pennsylvania, which was in 1681, 
and " saw the first cellar where it was digging for the use 
of our Governor, William Penn." His descriptions are 
certainly very flattering to the existing state of the 
colony. He paints everything coideur de rose, and if his 
book had general circulation in England, it must have 

* This work was, some years ago, reprinted. — Editor. 



120 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

tended to produce an extensive emigration to the Utopian 
colony. " Philadelphia," he says, " contains above two 
thousand houses, all inhabited, and most of them stately, 
and of brick, generally three stories high, after the mode 
in London, and as many several famihes in each." He 
tells us of " Frankford River, near which Arthur Cook 
hath a most stately brick house ;" of " Neshaminy River, 
where Judge Growdon hath a very noble and fine house, 
very pleasantly situated, and likewise a famous orchard, 
wherein are contained above one thousand apple trees ;" 
of " Governor Penn's great and stately pile, which he has 
called Pennsbury House, covered with tilestone'' (I sup- 
pose slate*) ; of " Robert Turner's great and famous 
house," in the city ; and of " Edward ShipjDey (probably 
Shippen), who lives near the capital city, and has an 
orchard and gardens adjoining to his great house, that 
equalizes, if not exceeds, any I have ever seen." If we 
are to believe these passages, the young colony had 
attained no mean height in luxury. Of the women of 
our native State, he says, "They are usually married 
before they are twenty years of age ; and when once in 
that 72oose, are for the most part a little uneasy, and make 
their husbands so too, till they procure them a maid 
servant to bear the burden of the work, as also in some 
measure to wait on them too." And afterwards, he says, 
"Jealousy among men is very rare, and barrenness 
among women hardly to be heard of" 

The most favorable consequences ensued (according to 

* It was covered, says Watson, with tiles. — Editor. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 121 

our worthy author) from these happy nuptials. "The 
children born here," he says, " are generallj' well flivored 
and beautiful : I never knew any one come into the world 
with the least blemish on any part of the body, being in 
the general observed to be better natured, milder, and 
more tender hearted than those born in England." 
What are called the liberal jDrofessions, I am sorry to 
say, found little favor in the eyes of honest Gabriel : " Of 
lawyers and physicians, I shall say nothing, because the 
country is very peaceable and healthy ; long may it con- 
tinue so, and never have occasion for the tongue of the 
one or the pen of the other, both equally destructive to 
men's estate and lives ; besides, forsooth, they, hangman- 
like, have a license to murder and make mischief" Nor 
does literature seem to rank high in his estimation ; for 
all that the book contains on the subject is comprised in 
two lines : " In the said city," saith Gabriel, " are several 
good schools of learning for youth, in order to the attain- 
ment of arts and sciences, as also reading, writing, &c." 
And then in the very same sentence, and in the same 
breath, he continues, as if they were about the same 
value, " Here is to be had, on any day in the week, tartSj 
jpies, calces, cfcc." " We have also several cook shops, both 
roasting and boiling." And finally concludes the compre- 
hensive sentence with the pious ejaculation, "Happy 
blessings {i. e. the learning and the pies), for which we 
owe the highest gratitude to Providence." The book is, 
however, valuable for the illustration it affords of our 
early annals. Among the trades of Philadelphia, of 
which a considerable list is given, and which, he says, 



122 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

have all constant and profitable employment, I find 
" printers and bookbinders/' and several others which one 
would suppose were quite prematurely introduced. Bar- 
ton, in his Memoirs of Rittenhouse,* speaks of the 
estabhshment of a paper mill at Germantown,f about the 
year 1700, by William Rittenhouse and his son Nicholas, 
ancestors of the philosopher; but the making of paper 
here was still earlier, since, in 1697, Thomas says, "All 
sorts of very good paper are made in the Germantown." 
In another place, he says, " Two miles from the metrop- 
olis are purging mineral waters as good as Epsom." 



The first literary work (upon any other than a religious 
subject) that the press of Philadelphia produced, was pub- 
lished in 1699, with the following quaint title : 

" GocTs protecting Providence maris surest help and 
defence in times of the greatest difficulty and mast immi- 
nent danger. Evidenced in tlie remarhable deliverance of 
divers persons from the devouring waves of the sea, amongst 
which they suffered shipwrech; and also from tlve 7nore 

* Page 83, note 5. 

f The Paper Mill to which reference is made by Barton, was the 
first established in America, and as early as 1690, not in German- 
town but in Roxborough Township, near the Germantown line, now 
" Rittenhouse Town," by William Rittenhouse, William Bradford, 
Thomas Tresse, Robert Turner, and others. We are indebted for 
these facts to an Essay, by Mr. Horatio Gates Jones, entitled " His- 
torical Sketch of the Bittenhouse Paper Hill,'' recently read before 
our Historical Society, and which, we regret to say, has not as yet 
been published ; for in it will be found many interesting facts which 
have hitherto been uumentioned by any writer. — Editor. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 125 

cruelly defvoiiring jaivs of tJie inhuman Cannibals of 
Florida. Faithfully related hy one of the persoiis con- 
cerned therein, Jonathan Dichenson. Printed in Philadel- 
phia, hy Beinier Janson, 1699." 

A copy of this curious volume, now become very rare, 
is in the City Library, but unfortunately a few of the last 
pages are wanting. I have read it with a good deal of 
pleasure. It is a simple and unadorned, but very inter- 
esting and touching narrative of the adventures of a 
number of persons, the passengers and crew of a vessel 
which, on a voyage from Jamaica to Philadelphia, were, 
in September, 1696, wrecked on the coast of Florida; 
where they fell into the power of the savages, were 
cruelly treated by them, and suffered from hunger, cold, 
and ill-usage, almost unto death. By the kindness of 
the Spanish Governor of St. Augustine, they were 
rescued from the Indians and carried to that j^lace, 
where they were received with the most delicate hospi- 
tality, and, having been clothed and abundantly provided 
for, were sent to Carolina, whence they reached Philadel- 
phia, in February, 1697. The passengers in this unfor- 
tunate vessel were twenty-two in number, besides the 
author, his wife and child, only six months old, whose 
sufferings during their captivity are told in a very affect- 
ing manner. A considerable portion of the preface is 
devoted to an account of the Kfe and rehgious services of 
Robert Barrow, one of the passengers, " a faithful servant 
of the Lord," as the author (himself a zealous " Friend ") 
styles him. From this, it appears, that he was a native 



124 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

of one of the northern counties of England, was early in 
life convinced of the truth of the Quaker doctrines ; and, 
in 1694, "the sj)i^i^ of God requiring him to come over 
into these parts to preach the Gospel," he ol)eyed the call, 
though with some reluctance ; visited Philadelphia in the 
course of his travels, and, having staid here a year or 
two, went to the West Indies ; and while on his return, 
met with the calamities detailed in the book, and which 
broke down his constitution. He survived, however, until 
the arrival of the vessel at Philadelphia, though he was 
in so weak a state with illness that they were obliged to 
carry him on a hammock to " Samuel Carpenter's house," 
and he lived only five days afterwards. He appears to 
have entered keenly into the religious controversies of 
the times, for his biographer relates, that one of his first 
questions on landing, though extremely ill, was, " What 
was becoming of George Keith's people." On receiving 
the intelligence of their total defeat, he manifested a very 
lively joy, and testified stoutly against the National 
Church, the stipendiary clergy, and the militia. In this 
edifying frame of mind he continued until his death, 
which took place on the 4th of February, 1697. 

Of Jonathan Dickinson, the author, little is learned 
from his book further than what he tells us in his preface. 
In reply to a doubt which he thinks may be suggested of 
the authenticity of the narrative, he declares that " the 
writer is a man well known in this town, of good credit 
and repute, on whose fidelity and veracity those who 
have any knowledge of him will readily rely, without 
suspecting fallacy." He lived to acquire considerable dis- 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 125 

tinction and extensive property. Our worthy ancestors 
seem to have been equally heedless of the maxuns of pohti- 
cal economy in respect to the division of labor, and of the 
well-estabhshed truths of political philosophy in regard to 
the separation of the legislative and judicial branches of 
the government; for, in 1781, we find Mr. Dickinson 
holding, at the same time, the office of Chief Justice of 
the province and Speaker of the Assembly, to which, in 
the next year, he seems to have s?/2Jer-added that of 
Mctster in Chancery. Not long afterwards, he figures as 
a member of Council, and as a Commissioner to treat 
with the Indians at Conestoga. He was withal, to use 
the words of that " honest chronicler," Robert P)^oud, " A 
merchant of considerable fortune, and possessed a large 
estate in Philadelphia. He bore a general good char- 
acter, was universally much beloved, and died in the year 
1722." 

The appearance of the book argues great deficiency in 
typographical skill and materials. It is wretchedly exe- 
cuted, and disfigured by constant blunders. The printer, 
who, by his name, seems to have been one of the Swedish 
settlers, is supposed by Thomas,* to have acted as locum 
tenens for Bradford, at that time in exile at New York. 
A second edition was printed in 1735, by a more cele- 
brated typographer, Benjamin Franklin. 



The year 1719 deserves particular remembrance in the 
annals of Pennsylvania, as that in which the first news- 

* History of Printing, Vol. II. 



126 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

paper was printed in the State. These potent engines 
exercise so vast an influence for good or evil over men's 
minds and actions in the present age, that a particular 
history of their rise and progress would be no idle or 
unprofitable task, though out of place here. The first 
number of the "American WeeMy Mercury" as it was 
called, appeared on the 22d of December, 1719, on a half 
sheet of the quarto size, and purported to be printed " by 
Andrew Bradford, at tJie Second Street," and to be sold 
by him and by John Copson, in Market Street. The 
price was ten shillings per annum, and this was quite as 
much as it deserved. Extracts from foreign journals 
generally about six months old, and two or three badly 
printed advertisements, formed the substance of the 
journal. The ofiice of the editor was a sinecure, — at 
least his pen seems to have been seldom employed ; and 
little information can be derived from the journal con- 
cerning the existing condition of Philadelphia. Occasion- 
ally a bill of mortality tells us that one adult and one 
child died during a certain week, and even that is beyond 
the usual number ; for some weeks appear to have passed 
without a single death. From the following advertise- 
ment, which appears in No. 17, something of the customs 
and state of things at the period may be gathered, 
"These are to give notice that Matthew Cowlej^, a 
skinner by trade, is removed from Chestnut Street to 
dwell in Walnut Street, oiear the Bridg, where all per- 
sons may have their buck and doe skins drest," &c. " He 
also can furnish you with bindings," &c. What new ideas 
of Walnut Street does not this hint about a bridge give 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 127 

US ; and how plenty must deer have been in those times 
when all persons are invited to have their skins dressed 
by Matthew Cowley; and then what a familiar and 
village sort of acquaintance with everybody, does not 
the transition at the end from the third to the second 
person plural imply. "He also can furnish you with 
bindings," &c. 

Nine years after the appearance of the American 
Mercury, the Philadelphia press was dehvered of a second 
newspaper, to which the modest title was given of " The 
Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences, and Penn- 
sylvania Gazette." In his inimitable autobiography, 
Franklin has immortalized Keimer, the eccentric pub- 
lisher of this journal, whose vanity and selfishness, whose 
wild notions upon rehgion and morals, and whose turn 
for poetry and gluttony are so happily and graphically 
delineated. Franklin, from whom Keimer had stolen the 
idea of a second newspaper, attacked it in a series of 
papers published in Bradford's journal, and called the 
Busy Body.* The " Universal Instructor'''' soon fell into 
decay, and then into Frankhn's hands, by whom it was 
very skilfully and successfully managed, both for his own 
profit and for the interest and edification of the public. 



* A manuscript note in the file of the American Mercury preserved 
in the City Library, says, that Franklin wrote the first five numbers 
and part of the eighth of this series. The rest were written by J. B., 
probably Joseph Breintnall, a member of the Junto, whom Franklin 
describes as a "good-natured, friendly, middle-aged man, a great 
lover of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some 
that was tolerable. "Very ingenious in making little nicknackeries, 
and of sensible conversation." 



128 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

An editorial notice in one of Franklin's papers proves, in 
rather a ludicrous way, how badly Philadelphia was sup- 
plied at the time (1736) with printing presses. What 
was called mder form was printed reversely or upside 
down to the inner form, and the following apology is 
offered : " The printer hopes the irregular publication of 
this paper will be excused a few times by his town 
readers, in consideration of his being at Burlington with 
the press, laboring for the pubhc good to make money 
more plentiful." 

It is not generally known that this venerable journal 
survived until within a year or two of the present time, 
under the name of ^^Tlie Pennsylva7iia Ga7xtter The third 
newspaper published in Pennsylvania was " The Pennsyl- 
vania Journal and Weekly Adverti7^r,'' the first number of 
which appeared on the 2d of December, 1742; and several 
other journals shortly afterwards arose with various suc- 
cess. In 1760, five newspapers were published in the 
State, all weekly ; three of them printed in the city, one 
in Germantown, and one in Lancaster. In 1810, the 
number had increased to sixty-six, of which thirteen 
were published in Philadelphia; and, in 1824, an official 
return to the Postmaster-General stated the number at 
one hundred and ten, of which eighteen were published 
in Philadelphia, eleven of them daily. A prodigious in- 
crease, which argues that the appetite for this food has 
increased in full proportion with the population. It is, 
perhaps, worth adding that the first daily newspaper that 
appeared on the continent of America was published in 
Philadelphia. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 129 

There are few persons on record to whose individual 
genius and exertions a community has owed so much as 
to Dr. Frankhn. If Wilham Penn was the pohtical 
founder of the province, Franldin may be denominated 
the architect of its hterature, — the gifted author of man}- 
of its best institutions, and the father of some of the finest 
features of our character. It is seldom, however, that 
Providence has vouchsafed such a length of years to such 
an intellect, and still more seldom that such events occur 
as those which developed the jDowers and capacities of 
Franklin's mind. The name of this illustrious man is 
closely connected with the literary history of Pennsyl- 
vania; but his life and actions are too well known to 
require that any elaborate notice of them should be given 
here. Referring therefore to his own invaluable memoirs 
for the events of his personal and political history, I shall 
content myself with a short sketch of the principal 
features of his Hterary career. The year 1723, was that 
in which Frankhn first set his foot in Philadelphia. As 
he landed on Market Street wharf and walked up that 
street, an obscure and almost penniless boy devouring a 
roll of bread and ignorant where he could find a lodging 
for the night, little could he or any one who then saw 
him, anticipate that later advent when, sixty years after- 
wards, he landed upon the same wharf amid the acclama- 
tions of thousands of spectators on his return from an 
embassy, in which he had dictated to his former king the 
terms of peace for the confederated repubUcs, of one of 
which he was placed at the head ; and not merely dis- 
tinguished as a politician, but covered with hterary 



130 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

honors and distinctions from every country in Christen- 
dom by which genius and pubhc virtue were held in 
estimation. And yet the change was scarcely greater for 
FrankUn than for Philadelphia. The petty provincial 
village with its scattered houses dotted over the bank of 
the Delaware, had become a magnificent metropolis, dis- 
tinguished for the wisdom and hberality of its institutions, 
and as the seat of a general and republican government, 
which, at the former period, could scarcely have entered 
into his dreams. 

At the time of Franklin's arrival in Philadelphia, there 
were two printing offices in operation. Keimer, the pro- 
prietor of one of them had, however, but one press and a 
few worn out types, with which, when Franklin visited 
him, he was composing an elegy, hterally of his own 
composition, for it had never gone through the usual pro- 
cess in this manufacture — of pen and ink — but flow^ed at 
once from his brain to the press. The subject of these 
typographical stanzas was Aquila Rose, an apprentice in 
the office, whose surname naturally suggested to the mind 
of Keimer some touching figures. K we may judge from 
some specimens of his poetry which Thomas has pre- 
served in his History of Printing, the province lost httle 
by Keimer's emigration to Bermuda, which took place 
shortly afterwards. 

Soon after his arrival, Frankhn formed an acquaintance 
with three other provincial poets, Watson, Osborne, and 
Ralph, whom he describes as " all lovers of reading," and 
with whom he says he " had many pleasant walks on the 
banks of the Schuylkill, where they read to one another, and 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 131 

conferred on what they had read." Of the first two little 
is known. Ralph was destined to considerable notoriety. 
He accompanied Franklin to England in 1725, where he 
began his literary career as a party-writer, and had the 
misfortune to become obnoxious to Pope, who has in- 
flicted upon him a severe token of remembrance. He 
is twice mentioned in the Dunciad. In Book I., the poet 
exclaims : 

" And see ! thy very Gazetteers give o'er, 
Even Ralph repents, and Henley writes no more." 

And in Book III., he is brought out more into rehef : 

" Silence, ye wolves ! while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 
And makes night hideous — answer him ye owls !" 

Pope's annotator tells us that Ralph brought this upon 
himself, by the publication of an abusive piece upon Dr. 
Swift, Gay, and Pope. He was not noticed in the first 
editions of the Dunciad. He published a poem called 
^^ Night,'' to which these lines allude, and vindicated his 
neglect of dramatic rules by the authority of Shakespeare. 
" He ended at last," says the annotator, " in the common 
sink of all such writers, a pohtical newspaper, and received 
a small pittance for pay." It may be doubted, however, 
whether his hterary character deserves all the obloquy 
that is thrown upon it by Pope and his commentator. It 
must be remembered that he took a side in politics oppo- 
site to Pope. Plis political pamphlets were highly ap- 
plauded at the time, and his chief work, " The History 



132 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

of England during the reigns of William, Anne, and 
George I.," in two volumes folio, received no mean praise 
from Charles Fox, who calls him " an historian of great 
acuteness as well as diligence, but who falls sometimes 
into the common error of judging too much by the 
event."* His last publication was entitled "The Case 
of Authors stated with regard to Booksellers, the Stage, 
and the Public," which is said to contain " much good 
sense and lively satire." Mr. Ralph died at Chiswick, in 
the year 1762. 

In 1727, Franklin instituted a club for mutual improve- 
ment, which was named the Junto, and which continued 
nearly forty years, without its nature and objects being 
publicly known, though " the chief measures of Pennsyl- 
vania," it is said, "received their first formation here." 
The Junto is described by its distinguished founder as 
"the best school of philosophy, morahty, and politics, 
that then existed in the province." And it appears to 
have exerted a powerful influence on the fortunes of some 
of its members, and probably contributed in no small 
degree to foster that Hterary taste and philosophical 
spirit which have been the honorable distinction of this 
city. They met every Friday evening,f and each mem- 
ber paid a penny a night to recompense the landlord for 
fire and light. Economy was one of their characteristic 
virtues. Terrapins and whisky punch were unknown to 



* Hist. Jas. 2, p. 126. 

f Their place of meeting, in their early days, was in Market Street 
below Third, at the sign of the Indian King. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 133 

their frugal and temperate deliberations. A copy of the 
set of rules formed in the time of Dr. Franklin, and pro- 
bably written by him, is still in existence. They are 
twenty-four in number, and exhibit in so strong a light 
the importance, while they display the machinery of the 
institution, that I am induced to transcribe them : — 

" Pt-evimis question to he answered at every meeting. 
Have you read over these queries this morning, in order 
to consider what you might have to offer the Junto 
touching any one of them, viz. : 

1. Have you met with anything in the author you last 
read remarkable or suitable to be communicated to the 
Junto, particularly in history, morality, poetry, physic, 
travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge ? 

2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for 
telling in conversation ? 

3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in busi- 
ness lately, and what have you heard of the cause ? 

4. Have you lately heard of any citizens thriving well, 
and by what means ? 

5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man 
here or elsewhere got his estate ? 

6. Do you know of any fellow-citizen who has lately 
done a worthy action, deserving praise or imitation ; or 
who has committed an error proper for us to be warned 
against and avoid ? 

7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you 
lately observed or heard ; of imprudence j of passion j or 
of any other vice or folly ? 



134 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

8. What happy effects of temperance ; of prudence ; 
of moderation ; or any other virtue ? 

9. Have you or any of your acquaintances been sick 
or wounded ? if so, what remedies were used, and what 
were their effects ? 

10. Who do you know that are shortly going voyages 
or journeys, if one should have occasion to send by 
them? 

11. Do you think of anything at present in which the 
Junto may be serviceable to mankind, to their country, 
to their friends, or to themselves ? 

12. Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since 
last meeting, that you have heard of; and what have 
you heard or observed of his character or merits; and 
whether, think you, it is in the power of the Junto to 
obhge him, or to encourage him as he deserves ? 

13. Do you know of any deserving ^'^oung beginner 
lately set up, whom it hes in the power of the Junto any 
way to encourage ? 

14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws 
of your country, of which it would be proper to move the 
Legislature for an amendment ? or do you know of any 
beneficial law that is wanting ? 

15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the 
just liberties of the people ? 

16. Hath anybody attacked your reputation lately ? 
and what can the Junto do towards securing it ? 

17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, 
and which the Junto or any of them can procure for 
you? 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 135 

18. Have you lately heard any member's character 
attacked ? and how have you defended it ? 

19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the 
power of the Junto to procure redress ? 

20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, 
assist you in any of your honorable designs ? 

21. Have you any weighty affair on hand, in which 
you think the advice of the Junto may be of service ? 

22. What benefits have you lately received from any 
man not present ? 

23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion of 
justice and injustice, which you would gladly have dis- 
cussed at that time ? 

24. Do you see any things amiss in the present customs 
or proceedings of the Junto, which might be amended ?" 

Besides the preceding questions, the following Articles 
of Faith, as they may be called, were proposed to each 
new member, who was required to lay his hand on his 
breast as he answered them : — 

"1. Have you any particular disrespect to any member 
present ? 

Answer. I have not. 

2. Do you sincerely declare that you love mankind 
in general, of what profession or rehgion soever ? 

Answer. I do. 

3. Do you think any person ought to be harmed in 
his body, name, or goods, for mere speculative opinions, 
or his external way of worship ? 

Answer. No. 



136 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

4. Do you love truth for truth's sake? and will you 
endeavor impartially to find and receive it yourself, and 
cominunicate it to others ? 

Answer. Yes." 

Among the earliest members of the Junto were Brient- 
nall, who has been already mentioned; Nicholas Scull, 
afterwards Surveyor-General, who, says Franhlin, "loved 
books and sometimes made verses ;" William Parson, bred 
a shoemaker, who studied mathematics with a view to 
astrology, which he afterwards ridiculed; William Cole- 
man, afterwards one of the Judges of the Supreme' Court, 
upon whom Franklin bestows this lofty praise, " He had 
the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and the exactest 
morals of almost any man I ever met with ;" and Tlumm 
Godfrey, the author of the quadrant, of which noble in- 
vention he has been meanly plundered. Godfrey was, in 
humble life, a glazier by trade, but great and self-taught 
in mathematics, in which, according to Dr. Franklin, he 
was so much absorbed, that he neglected his business. 
It is recorded of him, that he taught himself the Latin 
language, in order to be able to read Newton's Princvpia, 
which he mastered at an early age : an undertaking of 
no easy kind, even under the most prosperous circum- 
stances. Godfrey, however, was depressed by the res 
angusta domi; and, for the honor of inventing the quad- 
rant, contended with heavy odds against an Englishman 
of some distinction, backed by all the self-love of that 
nation, and by the then prevaiHng opinion in Europe, 
that no good could come out of our Nazareth. His death, 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 137 

which took place at an early age, left his family in narrow 
circumstances. James Logan speaks of him thus, in one 
of his letters : " Thomas Godfrey has a fine genius for 
the mathematics ; and it would, for the sake of his birth- 
place, which is the same as that of my own children, be 
a great pleasure to me to see him rewarded." That 
reward, however, never came. He was suffered to go 
down to the grave in poverty and distress. His remains 
lie without any memorial, in a neglected field ; and that 
which should have immortalized his name is bestowed 
upon a foreigner and an impostor. 

In 1730, Frankhn proposed to the club to bring their 
books together, so as to form a common stock for the 
general convenience. Thus, the first joint library was 
formed in Philadelphia. The next year, he set on foot 
proposals for a public library : procured fifty subscribers, 
at forty shillings, and ten shillings a year for fifty years. 
This was the foundation of the Library Company, which 
has been so long a subject of just pride to our city, and 
which has operated so beneficially upon her literature and 
moral character. 

In 1743, Franklin suggested the establishment of a 
college for the education of young men in the higher 
branches of knowledge, from which the Academy, now 
the University of Pennsylvania, originated ; and the next 
year he was one of the chief agents in organizing the 
Philosophical Society. The history of the rise and pro- 
gress of these institutions is so well known that it is quite 
unnecessary to enter upon it in this place. 



138 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

In the Provincial Annals of Pennsylvania, few names 
appear with more just distinction than that of James 
Logan,* who was successively Secretary of the Province, 
and Clerk of the Council, Commissioner of Property, 
Chief Justice, President of the Council, and, what was 
far better, a most learned, honorable, and liberal man. 
It is with his hterary character alone that I have at 
present any concern ; and, although the Quarterly 
Reviewers, with characteristic effrontery, have sneered 
at him as " a man of tlie name of Logan, as ohscure as God- 
frey himself" yet certainly, as a man of science and 
letters, he has had few superiors out of the pro\ance. He 
arrived in Pennsylvania in the year 1699, and was then 
in the twenty-fifth year of his age. It was not, however, 
until the year 1730, that he became generally known for 
his proficiency in science. He communicated to the 
Royal Society several valuable papers, three of which are 
to be found in one volume of their transactions (the 38th). 
In 1739, he published, at Leyden, his valuable treatise, 
in Latin, entitled, ^' Experimenta et meletemata de Plan- 
tarum geneixdioiie" which was republished in London, in 
1747, with a version on the opposite page, by Dr. Fother- 
gill.-j- He printed at Leyden, at the same time, another 
learned treatise, entitled : 



* A Brief Memoir of Logan was published by Wilson Armi- 
stead, London, 1851. — Editor. 

f The translator made the following remarks in the preface : " Our 
author's addess in choosing and conducting experiments and his capa- 
city for the abstrusest researches, would doubtless have enabled him 
to give the world ample satisfaction on this intricate subject, had he 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 139 

" Canonuni pyo inveniendis refractionum turn siwi]itliciimi 
turn in lentibus dupliciwn focis, demonstrationes goemefricce. 
Aufore Jacoho Logan, Jiidice Supremo et Prceside Pi'oviTwice 
Pennsi/Ivcmiejisisj in America" 

In 1734, he translated Cicero's tract De Senectute, 
which, ten years afterwards, was printed by Franklin, 
in a style which, in correctness and the distinctness of 
the types, far exceeds some of our modern productions. 
The translation is faithful, and at the same time easy, 
and the learned author enriched it with very entertain- 
ing notes, explanatory of the persons and things treated 
of in the text. In the preface, which was written by Dr. 
Franklin, we are told that " this version was made ten 
years since, by the honorable and learned Mr. Logan, of 
this city; undertaken partly for his own amusement 
(being then in his sixtieth year, which is said to be 
nearly the age of the author when he wrote it), but 
principally for the entertainment of a neighbor, then in 
his grand climacteric; and the notes were drawn ,up 
solely on that neighbor's account, who was not so well 
acquainted as himself with the Eoman history and lau 
guage." His charges as Chief Justice were reprinted 
abroad, and are said to be " of singular excellence. He 
appears in them not only as a watchful guardian of the 
domestic weal, and as a sagacious director, but as a pro- 
found morahst and beautiful writer. Such subtle disquisi- 

been permitted to prosecute his inquiries. But his country called 
him to more important affairs, and kept him constantly engaged in 
employments more immediately beneficial to society. 



140 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

tion and lofty speculation, such variety of knowledge and 
richness of diction, are seldom found in compositions of 
any kind.'"^ He was well versed both in ancient and 
modern learning, acquainted with the oriental tongues, 
and a master of the Latin, Greek, French, and Italian 
languages. He died on the 31st of October, 1751, aged 
seventy-seven, leaving to the people of Pennsylvania a 
noble monument of his munificence, in the Loganian 
Library, which he had been fifty years in collecting, and 
the value of which is well known to all men of learning.f 
Such was " the obscure man of the name of Logan." 



Contemporaneous with Logan and Franklin, and in 
the habit of constant intercourse with them, was John 
Bartram.J This celebrated self-taught philosopher, of 

* Walsh's Appeal, p. 2t5, 477. 

■j- The following extract from his Will shows the importance of the 
collection : " In my library, which I have left to the city of Philadel- 
phia, for the advancement and facilitating of classical learning, are 
above one hundred volumes of authors, in folio, all in Greek, with 
mostly their versions. All the Roman classics, without exception. 
All the Greek mathematicians, viz., Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy, 
both his Geography and Almagest, which I had in Greek (with 
Theon's Commentary, in folio, above seven hundred pages), from my 
learned friend Fabricius, who published fourteen volumes of his 
Bibliotheque Grecque, in quarto, in which, after he had finished his 
account of Ptolemy, on my inquiring of him at Hamburg, how I 
should find it, having long sought for it in vain in England, he sent 
it to me out of his own library, telling me it was so scarce that 
neither prayers or price could purchase it. Besides, there are many 
of the most valuable Latin authors, and a great number of modern 
mathematicians, with all the three editions of Newton, Dr. Watts, 
Halley, &c." 

J In 1849, Dr. William Darlington published " Memorials of ,Tohn 
Bartram and Humphrey Marshall, — Philadelphia," — which publica- 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 141 

whom Linnaeus said, that he was the greatest natural 
botanist in the world, was born near Darby, in what was 
then Chester County, in the year 1701. His grand- 
father, of the same name with himself, came from Derby- 
shire, in England, in 1682. Very early in life his ruling 
passion, the love of nature and her productions, broke 
out, and he manifested that eagerness and capacity for 
learning which characterized all his after life. He was 
the first American who founded a botanic garden; and 
his reputation became so extensive that he corresponded 
with most of the distinguished foreign philosophers, was 
made a fellow of several of the scientific societies of 
Europe, and finally appointed American Botanist to 
George III. Like Frankhn, he was very ingenious as a 
mechanic. The house in which he resided was built by 
himself; the stone was quarried, and the timber prepared 
by his own hands ; and, on its completion, he dedicated 
it by the following distich, which he engraved in front : 

" To God alone : the Almighty Lord : 
The Holy One by me adored." 

John Bartram, HYO. 

This learned and accomplished man was born and 
educated a Quaker, and is said to have been modest and 
gentle in manners, of amiable disposition and liberal 
mind. He died in September, 1777. His son, William 

tion was followed by Mr. William H. Dillingham's " Tribute to the 
Memory of Peter Collinson, with some notice of Dr. Darlington's 
Memorials of John Bartram and Humphrey Marshall." Thiladel- 
phia, 1851, pp. 37. — Editor. 



142 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

Bartram, inherited his father's tastes and talents. In 
1773, he undertook a long and arduous journey, as he 
says, " at the request of Dr. Fothergill, of London, to 
search the Floridas, and the western parts of Carolina 
and Georgia, for the discovery of rare and useful produc- 
tions of nature, chiefly in the vegetable kingdom." His 
travels, which were published in a thick volume, in 1791, 
are fruitful of information and interest for botanists, con- 
tain many valuable facts on the subject of the Indians, 
and are not without amusement for readers in general. 
They prove also that the author possessed, together with 
his father's taste and talents, his laudable zeal in the 
pursuit of knowledge, and his excellent and liberal 
feehngs. 



The subject of Slavery and the Slave Trade agitated 
the public mind of Pennsylvania very early in its colonial 
life, and sent men to the press with a long succession of 
pamphlets. Before the end of the seventeenth century, 
George Keith published an essay against the traffic in 
slaves, the first remonstrance that this country gave birth 
to.. Dr. Franklin says, in a letter dated November 4th, 
1789, "I find, by an old pamphlet in my possession, that 
George Keith, near an hundred years ago, wrote a paper 
against the practice of slaveholding, said to be "given 
forth by the appointment of the meeting held by liim at 
Philip James's house, in the city of Philadelphia, about 
the year 1C93," &c. "And about the year 1728 or 1729 
(Frankhn continues), I myself printed a book for Ralph 
Sandiford, another of your friends of this city, against 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 143 

keeping negroes in slavery, two editions of which he dis- 
tributed gratis. And about the year 1736, I printed an- 
other book on the same subject, for Benjamin Lay, who 
also professed being one of your friends," &c. The lives 
of Sandiford and Lay, and of Anthony Benezet, another 
distinguished laborer in the same cause, have been 
written by a gentleman* in no wise inferior to either of 
them in singleness of heart and devotion to the public 
good, and whose philanthropy is rendered more useful to 
his fellow-citizens as well as honorable to himself by sub- 
jection to the discipline of a better regulated common 
sense than seems always to have governed the laborers in 
this vineyard. The tone and temper in which these 
memoirs are written, and their literary execution, gives 
us reason to regret that their excellent author has not 
continued his labors, and furnished us with biographies 
of some more Pennsylvanians. Sandiford, Lay, and 
Benezet, were the principal ante-revolutionary writers 
on the subject of slavery. The first was a native of 
Liverpool, in England, and came to Philadelphia while a 
youth. His early years were passed as a seaman, in 
which capacity he visited the West Indies. In 1729, he 
published the work to which Franklin alludes, and which, 
in the fashion of the day, he entitled " The Mystery of 
Iniquity, or a Brief Examination of the Practice of the 
Times." He died in 1733, at Lower Dublin, in the 
county of Philadelphia. Benjamin Lay, who went a step 
beyond him in enthusiasm, was born in 1677, in Essex 



* Roberts Yaux, Esq. 



144 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

County, England; like Sandiford, was a sailor in tlie 
early part of his life, and came to Philadelphia at the 
age of fifty-four, where he soon began to testify with an 
equal degree of zeal against eating meat and holding 
slaves. In 1737, he pubhshed the first pamphlet against 
slavery, which was followed by many others, all circu- 
lated gratis. His enthusiasm on this subject was exces- 
sive, and often very annoying to others; but his anti- 
carnivorous system came near proving fatal to himself: 
for, attempting to fast in imitation of the Saviour, he was 
reduced almost to the gates of death. The good sense of 
his friends saved him, and he hved to the patriarchal age 
of eighty-two. The life of Anthony Benezet was more 
diversified by incidents, and is better known than those 
of his predecessors in the same cause, to which he devoted 
almost his entire Hfe and his utmost abilities, with sur- 
prising constancy and zeal. Born in France, in 1713, he 
came to Philadelphia at the age of eighteen; where, after 
passing several years as a teacher in the public schools, 
he became impressed with the subject of African slavery. 
In 1762, he published his "Account of that part of 
Africa inhabited by the Negroes." Many other works, 
on this and religious topics, were successfully put forth 
by him, which all bore the stamp of his mind, strength, 
simplicity, and order. He attained an enviable height 
in the estimation of his fellow-citizens, and died in 1784, 
aged seventy-one. 



The year 1732 gave birth to David Eittenhouse, a 
man who is deservedly ranked among those benefactors 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 145 

and ornaments of this country by whom her character is 
elevated and distinguished. He was born at German- 
town, in the county of Philadelphia, and was the son of 
a respectable farmer. His fondness for mathematical 
science was displayed at the early age of fourteen, and 
while he was literally at the plough, the handles of which 
were covered with his calculations ; and, at the age of 
seventeen, without foreign assistance, he constructed a 
complete clock. Astronomy next became the subject of 
his inquiries, and, procuring a few books, he soon made a 
wonderful progress. In 1768, he completed his first 
orrery, on which occasion Mr. Jefferson observed, that 
" as an artist he had exhibited as great proofs of 
mechanic genius as the world had ever produced." The 
next year, in company with several others, a committee 
of the American Philosophical Society, appointed for the 
purpose, he observed the transit of Venus. His report on 
this subject, not only gave satisfaction to the friends of 
science in this country, but obtained the applause of 
foreign astronomers. In 1775, he delivered the annual 
oration before the Philosophical Society, in which he 
exhibited both his attachment to, and profound know- 
ledge of, the science of astronomy and the soundness of 
his principles as a patriot. The subsequent part of his life 
is well known, and falls without the limits of this sketch. 
He died in June, 1796, having tasted a full measure of 
the pubhc honor and respect. " On the whole," says a 
foreign writer, "as a philosopher and man of science, 
America has not produced any one superior to David 
Rittenhouse. To the principle of liberty, he was invari- 

10 



146 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

ably attached ; his philanthropy was universal, and ren- 
dered him a friend to the whole human race, without 
distinction of country, color, or complexion. In private 
life, amiable and unassuming j in public, a constant and 
firm asserter of the rights of man."* 



In the year 1734-5, another religious controversy pro- 
duced another litter of pamphlets. It seems that the 
Rev. Mr. Hemphill, Pastor of one of the Presbyterian 
Meetings, had preached divers popular sermons, incul- 
cating the duty of good works ; but which, on being tried 
by the test of orthodoxy, were found wanting. Accord- 
ingly, he was suspended from his clerical functions by a 
Commissioner of the Synod, but continued nevertheless 
to preach in public. In July, 1735, "he preached twice 
to a very numerous congregation, at the house where 
the Assembly used to meet." Several essays pro and can 
were published. Dr. Franklin himself entered the list in 
favor of Mr. Hemphill, with two pamphlets, besides a 
very ingenious article in the form of a dialogue, between 
two members of the Presbyterian Church, which appeared 
in the Gazette of April, 1735. Mr. Hemphill, though a 
taking preacher, was an indifferent writer; and, after a 
little while, it was discovered that the eloquent sermons 

which he preached were not really his own performances, 

II 

* Most of the facts here stated are taken from the Life of Ritten- 
house by William Barton, of Lancaster : a work which, although ex- 
hibiting perhaps too ostentatious a display of learning, is yet pleasingly 
written, and contains many valuable facts illustrative of the political 
and literary history of Pennsylvania. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 147 

but borrowed literally from other divines. Upon which 
discovery he took his departure in quest of better fortune, 
and probably in search of critics with shorter memories 
than those of Philadelphia. 



Political pamphlets and essays abounded in the years 
1764 and 1765. The great question of the expediency 
of changing the form of government from a proprietary 
to a regal one, was one of the first discussed. Then came 
the subject of the Indian massacre in Lancaster County, 
and the question of the poHcy of the government towards 
this race. And lastly, the right to call upon the citizens 
to bear arms ; and, as involved in this, the doctrine of 
the lawfulness of war, and the expediency of the system 
of government pursued by the Quakers, were vigorously 
contested. The principal writers were Dr. Franklin, 
Joseph Galloway, John Dickinson, and Dr. Smith. 
Franklin opposed the proprietary interest, and in conse- 
quence thereof, at the election in 1764, lost his seat in 
the House, which he had held for fourteen years. The 
interest which the contest excited, is proved by the 
number of pamphlets published on these questions. No 
fewer than thirteen, published in one year (1764), remain 
in the collection of the American Philosophical Society. 
The imposition of the Stamp Act produced, as may be 
supposed, great activity in the press. The chief writer 
was John Dickinson, who acquired great distinction at 
this period, and of whose Farmer's Letters, Dr. Ramsay 
says, that in this work, " he may be said to have sown 
the seeds of tlie Revolution." The celebrated petition to 



148 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

the King, and other memorials adopted by Congress, 
attest the sharpness of his pen and the vigor of his mind ; 
and he was no less distinguished for his miscellaneous 
knowledge and cultivated taste. He died at Wilmington, 
on the 15tli of February, 1808, at an advanced age. His 
pohtical writings were collected and pubhshed in 2 Vols. 
8vo., in 1810. 



The name of Francis Hopkinson is more identified 
with the revolutionary, than with the provincial Jiistory 
of the State ; but, in sketching out the Hterature of the 
province, he must not be omitted. A poet, a wit, a 
patriot, a chemist, a mathematician, and a Judge of the 
Admiralty : his character was composed of a happy 
union of quahties and endowments, commonly supposed 
to be discordant; and, with the humor of Swift and Rabe- 
lais, he was always on the side of virtue and social order. 
His publications were chiefly of a fugitive nature, and 
originally appeared in the magazines and newspapers. 
They are admirable in their way, and he is equally great 
in exposing the formalities and pedantry of science, and 
in ridiculing the absurd pretensions of his country's 
oppressors. Of these productions, the most celebrated 
are The Salt Box, a specimen of collegiate examinalion ; 
TM Battle of tlw Kegs; Tlie Essay on Whiteivashmg, and 
TTw New Roof, an excellent piece in favor of the Consti- 
tution of 1788. His works, including his judicial decis- 
ions, were, after his death, collected and published in 
three volumes. Francis Hopkinson was born in Phila- 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 149 

delphia, in 1737, and died in his native city, on the 9th 
of May, 1791. 



In the year 1760, the Eev. Andrew Burnaby, Vicar 
of Greenwich, in England, travelled through the (then) 
colonies, and, in the course of his journey; visited Philar 
delphia. On his return, he published an account of his 
tour, in a small quarto volume, which is among the 
Frankhn Pamphlets, at the Athenaeum. He speaks thus 
of Philadelphia: "Arts and sciences are yet in their 
infancy. There are some few who have discovered a 
taste for music and painting ; and philosophy seems not 
only to have made a considerable progress already, but to 
be daily gaining ground. The Library Society is an ex- 
cellent institution for propagating a taste for literature, 
and the College well calculated to form and cultivate it. 
This last institution is erected on an admirable plan, and 
is by far the best school for learning throughout America. 
It has been chiefly raised by contribution, and its present 
fund is about £10,000, Pennsylvania money. An account 
of it may be seen in Dr. Smith's (the President's) dis- 
courses. The Quakers also have an Academy for 
instructing their youth in classical learning and practical 
mathematics : there are three teachers, and about seventy 
boys in it. Besides these, there are several schools in 
the province for the Dutch and other foreign children ; 
and a considerable one is going to be erected at German- 
town." 

In 1774, was published in Philadelphia, a small work, 



150 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

entitled " Observations on a variety of subjects, Literary, 
Moral, and Religious, in a Series of Original Letters, 
written by a gentlemen of foreign extraction, who resided 
some time in Philadelphia." The author was the Rev. 
Mr. Duche, an EpiscojDal clergyman, who is said by 
Graydon to have been " a weak and vain, but probably 
not a bad man." He engaged in the early part of the 
revolutionary conflict : was a Whig at first, but when the 
British entered Philadelphia, changed sides, and wrote an 
insolent and presumptuous letter to General Washington, 
in which he advises him to renounce what he was pleased 
to style, "a degenerate cause." He also published a 
volume of Sermons. The signature to his series of letters 
is the affected name of Tamoc Caspipina, two words 
formed by the first letters of his clerical title, — The 
Assistant Minister Of Christ Church And St. Peter's, In 
PhiladeljDhia, In North America. The hterary merit of 
these letters is very small. The observations are ex- 
tremely trite and common-place, and they are brought up 
in support of the most obvious principles of religion and 
morals. The author gives us few particulars of the state 
of things in Philadelphia. He bears testimony, however, 
to the love of letters, which has at all times prevailed 
among us. " You would be astonished (he says, in one 
letter, p. 11) at the general taste for books Avhich prevails 
among all orders and ranks of people in this city. The 
Librarian (of the City Library) assured me, that for one 
person of distinction and fortune, there were twenty 
tradesmen that frequented this Library." And in a sub- 
sequent letter : " Literary accomplishments here meet 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 151 

with deserved applause. Such is the prevailing taste for 
books of every kind, that almost every man is a reader ; 
and, by pronouncing sentences right or wrong, upon the 
various publications that come in his way, puts himself 
upon a level, in point of knowledge, with these several 
authors (page 30)." " Many excellent productions, in the 
literary way, have been published here. That spirit of 
freedom which I have already mentioned, has given birth 
even to orators and poets, many of whose performances I 
have heard and read with the hidiest satisfaction." 



Pennsylvania has produced her full share of Poets 
Besides those I have already mentioned, must be recorded 
the names of Beveridge, Godfrey, and Evans. In the year 
1765, was published a volume (the first of the kind 
printed in Philadelphia) of Latin poems. The author, 
John Beveridge, was, at the time. Professor of Languages 
in the College and Academy of Philadelphia, to which 
station he was appointed in 1758. He was a native of 
Scotland, and originally taught a school in Edinburgh. 
Of this learned person, an amusing account is given by 
Graydon, in his entertaining memoirs of his owm life. 
He appears to have possessed an accurate and profound 
acquaintance with the ancient languages, but out of these 
his acquirements were limited; and, in knowledge of 
human nature, he seems to have been about on a par 
with Dominie Sampson. The management of a school of 
seventy or eighty boys was entirely beyond his powers, 
although he was nominally assisted in the business of 
teaching by two others. His collection of poems, which 



152 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

was published by subscription, was entitled "Epistolce 
Familiares, et Alia Quwdam Miscellanea." For the most 
part, these pieces are written with considerable purity 
and elegance ; but even in Europe, where a greater 
number of competent readers of Latin poetry exists, they 
would probably have shared the fate they have met with 
here, and 

"Yielded to the wand of dull oblivion." 

In an ingenious poetical address to John Penn, the 
Professor of Latin more than hints that a conveyance to 
!him, in fee simple, of some few of the many thousand 
'acres possessed by the Penn Family, would not be an un- 
suitable reward for the immortality bestowed upon him 
by the poet ; and reminds him, that without the aid of 
Virgil and Homer, the fame of Ajax and Maecenas would 
have travelled but a little way out of their own doors. 
Notwithstanding these sagacious suggestions, poor Bever- 
idge continued to ply the birch ; and never, it is believed, 
attained that independence he so pathetically and poeti- 
cally coveted. 



Of Thomas Godfrey,* the poet and son of the ingenious 
inventor of the quadrant, a brief memoir has been left by 
his friend Evans. He was born in Philadelphia, in 1736. 



* In 1843, a monument was erected to the memory of Thomas 
Godfrey, at Laurel Hill, and its completion commemorated in an 
Address by Governeur Emerson, M.D. Philadelphia, 1843, pp. 22. — 
Editor. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 153 

His father dying when he was very young, and leaving 
little property, the son received only a plain English 
education, but displayed in his early years that talent for 
and attachment to poetry which was the delight and dis- 
tinction of his short after-life. He is said also to have 
possessed a fine ear for music and a strong inclination to 
painting, to which art he was desirous of being bred, but 
his friends ordered otherwise. He was apprenticed to a 
watchmaker, but devoted all his leisure hours to poetry ; 
and tired of his mechanical employments, he obtained a 
lieutenant's commission in the Pennsylvania forces, raised 
in 1758, for the expedition against Fort Du Quesne, in 
which station he continued until the campaign was over, 
when the provincial troops were disbanded. The suc- 
ceeding spring, he accepted the offer of an agency in 
North Carolina, where he remained three years. On the 
death of his employer, he returned to Philadelphia, where 
he obtained the station of a supercargo in a small vessel 
to New Providence. Here he remained several months ; 
and then sailed again for North Carolina, where, in a few 
weeks after his arrival, he died of a bilious malignant 
fever. His death took place in August, 1763, in the 
twenty-seventh year of age. His poems are highly 
praised by his biographer, who extols in glowing 
language the sweetness of his disposition, the warmth 
of his heart, and the strength of his friendship. 



The Rev. Nathaniel Evans, Minister of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, and Missionary to Gloucester County, 



154 PROYINCIAL LITERATURE 

New Jersey, published a volume of poems in 1770, most 
of which may be read now with pleasure. K not remark- 
able for energy or originality, the vivida vis animi, they 
are smooth and polished, and indicate the possession of a 
refined taste and lively imagination. From a short 
memoir of him, which I have seen, it appears that he 
was born in Philadelphia, in 1742, and received his edu- 
cation at the Academy then newly instituted. After 
spending six years in this institution, his friends with- 
drew him and placed him in a counting-house. He 
devoted his time, however, to the muses ; and, after the 
expiration of his apprenticeship, returned to" college, 
where he applied himself so assiduously to the study of 
philosophy and literature, that by a special vote of the 
Trustees, on recommendation of the Faculty, he received 
the degree of M.A., although he had not taken the pre- 
vious degree of B.A. Immediately after this, he repaired 
to England, where he was admitted into holy orders by 
Dr. Terrick, Bishop of London, who is said to have ex- 
pressed great satisfaction with his essays on theological 
subjects. He returned to Philadelphia in December, 
1765, and immediately entered upon the duties of a 
mission at Gloucester, in New Jersey, to wliich he had 
been appointed. He lived only long enough to show his 
fitness, both moral and mental, for the holy office he had 
undertaken ; and closed his blameless life on the 29th of 
October, 1767, dying, Hke his friend Godfrey, who pre- 
ceded him only four years, at a very early age. 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 155 

The first Literary Journal ever published in any part 
of the United States appeared in Philadelphia. This was 
"T/ie General Magazine and Historical Chronicle" printed 
and edited by Dr. Franklin, of which the first number 
appeared on the 1st of January, 1741. It was continued 
for about a year. A copy of it is in the City Library. 
It is chiefly occupied with the proceedings of the English 
Parliament and public documents, but contains, neverthe- 
less, some original matter, not without interest at the 
present day. Another journal was published in the same 
year, by Bradford, entitled " The Ameiican Magazine" but 
it existed only two months. In 1757, Bradford revived 
it, but with similar success, for only three numbers were 
published. In 1769, a small periodical work of little 
worth, entitled the "Penni/ Post" was published by Ben- 
jamin Mecom. His design was to print it weekly, but it 
was, in fact, published at irregular periods. Another 
journal, under the name of " The American Magazine" 
was pubhshed in 1769, by Lewis Nichola. It ended with 
the year. Nichola was born in France, and educated in 
Ireland. He was the author of a military treatise, written 
at the commencement of the Revolution, and I believe 
attained a high rank in the Pennsylvania Line. In 1771, 
was published " The Royal Spiritual Magazine or Christ- 
ians Grand Treasury" a few numbers only appeared. 
In 1775, Robert Aitken printed " The Pennsylvania Maga^ 
zlne or American Monthly Museum." Thomas Paine was 
editor, and one of the principal writers for this journal. 
Many of the articles bear the impress of his powerful 



156 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

writing ; and the journal is on other accounts one of the 
best which appeared before the Revolution. 



The activity of the Press of Philadelphia before 
the Revolution, and the general diffusion of a hterary 
taste, is proved by the large number of literary produc- 
tions of the period yet extant. It is not possible now, 
perhaps, to ascertain the exact number that were pub- 
lished ; but it may surprise many to learn, that there are 
in the City Library no fewer than four hundred and fifty- 
nine works printed in Philadelphia before the Revolution. 
Of these, four hundred and twenty-five are original books 
and pamphlets, and thirty-four reprints of foreign books 
and pamphlets. Many were, doubtless, printed which 
were never purchased for the library, and some that were 
in the Ubrary have been lost or destroyed. Perhaps one- 
third might safely be added to the number in the library, 
which would give upwards of six hundred for the number 
of works printed in the province. 



In the year 1766, Robert Bell, who did a good deal 
for literature in his way, came to Philadelphia. He was 
a Scotsman by birth, but had lived several years in 
Dublin, as a bookseller, in which capacity he was some 
time the partner of George Alexander Stevens, so well 
known for his humor and facetiousness. Bell first estab- 
lished himself as a book auctioneer, and afterwards as a 
bookseller. In 1772, he undertook a stupendous enter- 
prise for the time, the reprinting of Blackstone's Com- 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 157 

mentaries, in four volumes, octavo, with a supplement in 
a fifth volume. A liberal subscription, however, rewarded 
his exertions, and he shortly afterwards published a 
second edition of Blackstone in quarto, and editions of 
Robertson's Charles the Fifth, and of Ferguson's Essay on 
Civil Society, besides minor works. He was also pub- 
lisher of the original edition of Paine's celebrated pam- 
phlet Common Sense. It is said that Paine was at one 
time in Bell's employ, as a clerk. After the war broke 
out. Bell, finding his regular business as a bookseller in- 
terrupted, resumed that of selling at auction, and travelled 
from New Hampshire to Virginia with books for sale. In 
the course of one of these expeditions, he died at Eich- 
mond, in Virginia, in September, 1784. In business, he 
was perfectly fair and upright, and is said to have been a 
very pleasant companion. He had a vein of eccentricity, 
however, in his composition, which appeared sometimes 
in his advertisements. Those for sales at auction were 
commonly headed : " Jewels and diamonds to be sold or 
sacrificed by Eobert Bell, humble provedore to the senti- 
mentalists." Announcing Blackstone's Commentaries and 
other books to be pubhshed by subscription, he invites the 
public in these words : ^'^Intentional eiicouragers, who wish 
for a participation of this sentimental hangnet, are requested 
to send their names to Robert BeU," &c. 



Literature and Science received ample encourage- 
ment, both by words and deeds, from the Provincial 
Government of Pennsylvania. Before one English foot 



158 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

had been placed on the soil of the colony, the venerable 
and illustrious founder issued a manifesto, containing the 
soundest doctrines of political philosophy, and the most 
convincing reasons in support of them. The following 
passages deserve to be constantly borne in mind in every 
district in this country : — 

"Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men 
give them ; and, as governments are made and moved by 
men, so by them they are ruined too. "Wherefore, gov- 
ernments rather depend upon men than men upon gov- 
ernments. Let men be good, and the government cannot 
be bad ; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, 
let the government be ever so good, they will endeavor to 
warp and spoil it to their turn. That, therefore, which 
makes a good constitution must keep it, viz., men of wis- 
dom and virtue, — qualities that, because they descend not 
with worldly inheritances, must be carefully propagated 
by a virtuous education of youth, — for which after ages 
will owe more to the care and prudence of founders, and 
the successive magistracy, than to their parents for their 
private patrimonies." 

The 12th Article of the Frame of Government provides 
in express terms, " That the Governor and Provincial 
Council shall erect and order public scliools,%nd encour- 
age and reward the authors of useful sciences and laud- 
able inventions in the province." Among the Committees 
into which the Provincial Council was to be divided, was 
" a Committee of Manners, Education, and Arts, that all 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 159 

wicked and scandalous living may be prevented, and that 
youth may be successfully trained up in virtue, and useful 
knowledge, and arts," Such were the sentiments enter- 
tained at the outset of the government, and the provisions 
for enforcing them. The same principles appear to have 
been cherished at every stage of the colonial history, of 
which one example has already been given in the extract 
from the Charter of the Friends' School. The Penn 
Family seem to have been uniformly disposed to encour- 
age learning and science, and contributed liberally from 
their private funds for the purpose. Thomas Penn, who 
died in 1775, the last surviving child of the founder, and 
who is said to have been " the worthiest of his children, 
and the one who most nearly resembled him in abilities 
and virtues,"* was fond of literary pursuits. His dona- 
tions to the College of Philadelphia alone, amounted to 
about twelve thousand dollars in money, besides the grant 
of one half of a manor in Bucks County, containing up- 
wards of three thousand acres. He also founded and 
endowed a public library in Lancaster, which, in compli- 
ment to his wife, was called " The Juliana Library." 

Nor was the Assembly of the province at any time 
backward in affording countenance and support to letters 
and science. Two instances of their liberality deserve 
particular mention. In the session of 17G8-9, the 
Assembly appropriated one hundred pounds sterling to 
the purchase of a reflecting telescope, with a micrometer, 
for the purpose of enabling the Philosophical Society to 



* Barton's Life of Rittenhouse, p. HO, note 70. 



160 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE 

observe the transit of Venus ; and shortly afterwards, at 
the same session, gave an additional sum of one hundred 
pounds, to defray the expense of erecting observatories. 
In 1771, they granted to Dr. Kittenhouse the sum of 
three hundred pounds, by a resolution which expressed 
that it was given "as a testimony of the high sense 
which the House entertains of his mathematical genius 
and mechanical abihties in constructing his orrery." 



NOTE A 



Some light is thrown upon the subject by the following extract 
from Keith's Journal of his subsequent travels, of which mention is 
made in another part of this memoir : 

" I happened in America, while I was there travelling, to see a 
book lately printed, called 'New England Judged,'' having a printed 
appendix to it by John Whiting, Quaker, who has set up of late for 
a great author among them, and who is extremely ignorant as well 
as confident to utter falsehoods and abusive slanders. In his appen- 
dix, he utters a notorious falsehood upon me, as if at Philadelphia, 
about the year 1692, I had fained myself a prisoner; and to make 
this fiction to be believed, I had gone to the porch of the prison, the 
prison door being shut against me, and from the porch of the prison 
had writ and dated a paper of complaint against the Quakers for my 
imprisonment ; and to make his reader take the greater notice of it, 
he has caused the following words to be printed on the margin in 
great black letters: George Keith's Mock Imprisonment. Now to 
prove the notorious falsehood of this, I need go no further than a 
book of one of his brethren, viz., Samuel Jennings, printed at London, 
1694, called by him 'The State of the Case,^ &c., wherein, though 
he has uttered many falsehoods concerning the state of the case 



OF PENNSYLVANIA. 161 

about our difFere'nces in principles of religion, in the year 1601 and 
1692, whereof I had largely detected him in my printed reply to his 
book : yet he saith true in what he did report in his book concerning 
two persons whom the Quakers had put in prison, — the one for print- 
ing a sheet of mine, I called 'An Appeal,' &c., and the other for 
selling one or two of them when printed. The name of the printer is 
William Bradford ; the name of the other is John Machomb. Now, 
concerning them, the said Quaker, Samuel Jennings, reports that 
they signed a paper from the prison, when they signed it in the 
entry, common to the prison and the next house* Thus, he gives 
the true matter of fact, and tells truly who signed that paper in the 
entry or porch, which were those two above-named persons, but men- 
tions not me as being concerned in signing that paper, either in the 
entry or porch, or anywhere else. And to be sure, if I had been one 
of the persons who had signed that paper, he would have told the 
world of it, as thereby thinking to have some great matter against 
me. For he chargeth it upon these two above-mentioned persons, 
William Bradford and John Mackomh, that it was deceit in them to 
sign a paper from the prison, when they were not in the prison, but 
in the porch or entry of it, as he saith. In my answer to him, I have 
showed it was no deceit, nor had anything blameworthy. The case 
was this. They were prisoners by a warrant from some Quaker 
Justices, for the fact above mentioned, and had been detained in 
prison for some time, and were ordered to be kept in prison until 
the next Court, unless they gave security by bonds to answer at the 
next Court. After some time, the jailor, by favor, let them go home, 
but still they were prisoners, not being released by any judicatory ; 
and the Quaker Justices delaying to bring them to a trial, they went 
to the prison to write, and sign their petition from the prison to have 
their trial at the next session ; but it happened that the jailor was gone 
abroad, and had the key of the prison with him, so that they could not 
get in. Now, I see no deceit or insincerity in this, more than in the 
common practice of many Quakers, who have printed records of their 
suffering imprisonment (for not paying tithes) some years, and yet 
they often had liberty to go home, by favor of the jailors, to my 
certain knowledge. But whether William Bradford and John Mac- 



* It seems from this, that there was but one entry, in those days, for the 
prison and the adjoining house 1 
11 



162 PROVINCIAL LITERATURE. 

komh were guilty of deceit or not, is not material to the present case 
of John Whiting, his vile slander, as if I had been the person, or one 
of the persons who had writ that paper from the porch or entry of the 
prison. This is a sufficient proof that what John Whiting has thus 
printed against me was not from the infallible spirit, and that he is, 
therefore, by George Fox^s sentence, a deceiver." (Page 40, &c.) 



A 

MEMOIR 

ON 

THE CONTEOYEESY 

BETWEEN 

WILLIAM PENN AND LORD BALTIMORE, 

RESPECTING THE BOUNDARIES OF PENNSYLVANIA AND MARYLAND. 



JAMES DUI^LOP, ESQ., 

MEMBER OF THE SENATE OP PENNSYLVANIA FROM FRANKLIN COUNTY. 

Read at a Meeting of the Council, Navemher lO^/i, 1825. 

(163) 



A MEMOIE, ETC.^ 



The disputes which occurred in times ahnost forgotten, 
between the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania and Maryland, 
respecting the boundaries of their provinces, afford a sub- 
ject of curious, if not useful speculation. Their rise, pro- 
gress, and termination, form not only an amusing portion 
of the history of the early transactions of our country, but 
are important, as intimately connected with the land 
titles of that part of the State which lies within the 
limits of the disputed territory.-}- 

The clashing of the many grants made with such 
lavish profusion by the sovereigns of Europe, of the 



* A short Memoir of the author of this Essay will be found in 
Note IL, at the end of volume. — Editor. 

t Since this Paper appeared, much light has been thrown upon 
the subject of the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Mary- 
land, in the following publications : 

" Minutes of the • Proceedings before the Hon. John Sergeant, of 
Philadelphia, in the matter of the Pea Patch Island. Referred to 
him as sole Arbitrator." United States Senate (Executive) Docu- 
ment, No. 21, 30th Congress, 1848. 

Report of Col. J. D. Graham, of Corps of Topographical Engineers. 
Pennsylvania Senate Journal, 1850, Yol. II., p. 475. 

(165) 



166 WILLIAM PENN 

savages and soil of tlie New World, arose from their 
entire ignorance of the country. The thirst for gold, the 
spirit of adventure, and zeal of religious enthusiasm, all 
demanded, clamorously, a participation in the wealth, in- 
dependence, or retirement, which were fondly anticipated 
to flow from the mighty discoveries of Cabot and Ves- 
pucci. By \'irtue of the fancied right of priority of dis- 
covery, the Cro^^m of England not only claimed but 
exercised the power of parcelUng the extensive coasts 
and territories of North America amongst her favorite 
countries or troublesome subjects. 

Whether this assumed authority was better founded 
than that which flowed from Papal supremacy to the 
sovereigns of Spain and Portugal, or the vacillating 
tenure of the thinly-scattered and savage aborigines, it 
is now more curious than useful to inquire. For, how- 
ever well founded the title derived from such sources 
might originally have been considered, time, possession, 
and power have given them a stability which nothing 
can endanger but the weakness and corruption of the 
holders. 

From an ignorance of the geography of the dark and 
boundless wilderness which was so generously divided, 
the limits of the numerous grants were so vaguely desig- 

The History of Mason and Dixon's Line, contained in an Address, 
delivered by John H. B. Latrobe, of Maryland, before the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, November 8tb, 1854. Press 
of the Society, Philadelphia, 1855. 

Mason and Dixon's Line: a History, — including an Outline of the 
Boundary Controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia. By 
James Yeech. Pittsburg, 185T, pp. 58. — Editor. 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 167 

natecl as invariably to create confusion, and embroil the 
claimants in difficulties and resentments, wliicli required 
the labor and patience of years to settle and allay. 

In the year 1681, when the Charter was granted to 
"William Penn, the distinguished Founder of Pennsyl- 
vania, by Charles II., King of England, almost the whole 
country included in its limits was an uncultivated wild ; 
and to what extent the country was settled at the date 
of the Charter, it would, perhaps, be difficult, and, from 
the means of information within the reach of the author, 
impossible to ascertain with satisfactory certainty. As 
early as 1627,* the Swedes and Fins had formed estab- 
lishments within the Capes of Delaware; and, in 1630, 
Proud (1 Hist. Penn., pp. 115, 116) says, that the Dutch, 
or, as Bozman (Hist. Maryland, p. 245) thinks, the 
Swedes had built a fort at a place now called Lewistown, 
in the State of Delaware ; and in the year following, the 
Swedes had pushed their fortifications above Wilmington, 



* It has already been stated, in a note at page TO, that this date is 
incorrect, for the Swedes did not arrive until 1638. Bozman was led 
into the error by Proud, whom he quotes ; and although the latter is 
right in asserting that the Dutch, in 1630, built a fort at " Lewis- 
town," the former is wrong in supposing that it was the Swedes who 
did so. The region was called by the Dutch Swanendael, also 
Hoornkill, a designation probably given by De Vries, in compliment 
to his father, a resident of Hoorn, a town in the Netherlands, which 
was subsequently corrupted into Hoarkill. 

The unfortunate Dutch colonists who arrived under De Vries, in 
1630, and were the first Europeans that attempted to establish them- 
selves on the western side of the Delaware, did not long survive : 
for, after the departure of that navigator, a misunderstanding having 
arisen between them and the Indians, the latter treacherously mur- 
dered the entire colony, consisting of thirty-two souls — Editor. 



168 WILLIAM PENN 

and as high up as Chester. The Swedes, says the same 
author (1 Pr., 205), had a Meeting House at Wicocoa, 
now within the suburbs of Philadelphia ; and the Friends 
one at Upland or Chester, another at Shackamaxon or 
about where Kensington now stands, and a third at the 
lower Falls of the Delaware (Id., 160, 161), meaning, I 
presume, the Falls at Trenton, as there are no Falls below 
that place. Proud says, that there was not a single house 
built on the site of Philadelphia when it was laid out by 
the Proprietary and his Surveyor, Thomas Holme, in 
1682 ; and that on his arrival, the first house building by 
George Guest, " on this spot of ground," was unfinished • 
and that at that time, many of the early settlers and 
adventurers had their holes or caves for their residence 
in the high bank of the Delaware, before any houses were 
built or better accommodation prepared for them. But 
there is no doubt that the country, in 1681, was partially 
settled along the bank of the river, as high as the Falls 
(1 Pr., 160, 161), near to where Philadelphia now stands, 
as Penn himself, in a letter to the Society of Freetraders, 
in August, 1683 (1 Proud, 260, 261), says, that "the 
Dutch mostly inhabit those parts of the province that lie 
upon or near the bay, and the Swedes the freshes of the 
river Delaware;" and Proud says (1 Hist. Penn., 233), 
that the site of the city itself was claimed by some 
Swedes, with whom Penn exchanged other lands at a 
small distance for it. 

It is impossible to say to what extent the English had 
made settlements within the limits of what is now the 
State of Pennsylvania, as early as the date of William 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 169 

Penn's Charter ; but that they had long exercised domm- 
ion over the country west of the bay and river Delaware, 
abundantly appears from the records of the proprietary 
government of New York (certified copies of which are 
on record in the office of the Secretary of the Common- 
wealth at Harrisburg). Charles II. had granted to his 
brother, the Duke of York, in 1664, an immense territory 
in America, embracing the Dutch settlements at New 
York, and extending southward to the eastern shore of 
the bay and river Delaware ; and the Duke, in the same 
year, issued a commission to Sir Eobert Carr, to subdue 
their possessions on the eastern shore ; and after the con- 
quest, which was easily effected, governed the country as 
an ai^pendage to his province of New York, by his Heuten- 
ants, till 1682, when he released his interest to William 
Penn. There is no evidence of actual settlements made 
Tvdthin the limits of Pennsylvania, amongst the records 
alluded to, but of a continued and anxious care over the 
country on the west side of the bay and river Delaware, 
by the Governors of the Duke, residing at New York; 
and amongst the same documents, is an Indian deed, of 
as early date as 1675, to Edmund Andros, Governor and 
Lieutenant of the Duke, for land lying at least twenty 
miles above Philadelphia. This deed is, perhaps, the 
earliest made by the aborigines to the English, of lands 
on the western shore of the Delaware, and exhibits a 
curious but not uncommon uncertainty of boundary, that 
strongly displays the ignorance of the whites of the topo- 
graphy of the country. It describes the land as " lying 
on the west side of Delaware River, beginning at a certain 



170 WILLIAM PENN 

creek next the cold spring, somewhat ahove Matmicum* 
Island, about eight or nine miles below the ^alls, as far 
above the said Falls as the other is below them, or furth- 
est that way, as may be agreed upon, to some remarkable 
place, for the more certain bounds; as also, all the islands 
in the river Delaware within the fore-mentioned hmits, 
both below and above the Falls, excepting only one 
island, commonly known by the name of Peter Alrick's 
Island, together with all the creeks, &c., &c., to the said 
tract of land belonging along the river and he! and into the 
woods,'' &c. The consideration, amongst the detail of 
ammunition, clothing, &c., exhibits the amusing predilec- 
tion of the grave Sachems for fifty looking-glasses and one 
hundred je^vsharps. It also contains covenants of seizin 
and quiet enjoyment, breaches of which, I presume, could 
only be effectually tried by the sword. This tract of 
country was selected probably for the peculiar excellence 
of its soil, and patents were granted for it by Andros to 
English settlers before the country bore the name of 
Pennsylvania (1 Proud, 217). The lands below at that 
time remained in the tenure of the Indians, as a commis- 
sion was three years afterwards issued by Andros to Cant- 
well and Hannum, to purchase from the savages the land 
as yet unpurchased from the Indians, "below the late 
purchase at the Falls, on the western shore of Delaware 
River." 

The Charter of Maryland, which its proprietor had in- 

* Now called Burlington Island, lying between Burlington and 
Bristol. — Upland Record, in note, p. 141, — Memoirs of Historical 
Society, Vol. VII. — Editor, 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 171 

tended to call Cresceiitia, but which was designated by his 
majesty, when the Charter was presented to him, Terra 
Maria, in honor of his Queen, Henrietta Maria, was granted 
by Charles I., in 1G32, to Cecilius Calvert, Baron of Balti- 
more, his " well-beloved and trusty servant." This grant, 
reciting the pious and laudable zeal of the Baron of Balti- 
more for extending the Christian religion and the terri- 
tories of the empire, and his desire to transport, by his 
own industry and expense, a numerous colony to a certain 
region hereafter described, in a country Mtherto unculti- 
vated in the parts of America, and ^partly occupied by 
savages having no knowledge of the Divine Being, trans- 
ferred unto him, his heirs and assigns, all that part of the 
peninsula or Gliersonese lying in the parts of America 
between the ocean on the east and the Bay of Chesa- 
peake on the w^est, divided from the residue thereof by a 
right line drawn from the promontory or headland called 
Watkins' Point, situate upon the bay aforesaid, near the 
river Wighes, on the west, unto the main ocean on the 
east, and between that boundary on the south unto that 
part of the hay of Delaware on the north which lieth 
under the fortieth degree of north latitude, from the equi- 
noctial, wliere New England is terminated: and all the 
tract of that land within the metes under-written (that is 
to say), passing from the said bay called Delaware Bay, 
in a right line, by the degree aforesaid, unto the true 
meridian of the first fountain of the Potomac, thence 
verging towards the south unto the southern bank of said 
river, and following the same, &c. 

The Lords Baltimore may well be excused for pressing 



172 WILLIAM PENN 

their claims under this grant as extensively as they did, 
and which its terms seemed so strongly to justify ; hut 
there were two hidden sources of uncertainty lurking 
under the language of their Charter, which cost the 
Proprietaries of Maryland many years of vexation and 
expense. 

In 1681, King Charles II. granted to William Penn 
the Charter for the province of Pennsylva]|iia. This 
venerable document, which is in the office of the Secre- 
tary of the Commonwealth, is written upon large rolls of 
strong parchment, in the old English handwriting, with 
each line underscored with lines of red ink, that give it a 
curious appearance. The borders are gorgeously fur- 
belowed with heraldic devices, and the top of the first 
page exhibits a finely-executed half-length portrait of his 
majesty, in good preservation. Though not quite a cen- 
tury and a half old, it may justly be designated a valuable 
piece of American antiquity. The Charter designates the 
province of Pennsylvania as "That tract of country or 
part of land in America, with the islands as therein con- 
tained, as the same is bounded on the east by Delaware 
Kiver, from twelve miles distance northward of Newcastle 
town, unto the forty-third degree of north latitude, if the 
said river doth extend so far northward, but if the said 
river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said 
river so far as it doth extend ; and from the head of the 
said river, the eastern bounds are to be determined by a 
meridian line, to be drawn from the head of the said 
river to the said forty-third degree. The said land to 
extend westward five degrees of longitude, to be com- 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 173 

pleted from the said eastern bounds ; and the said lands 
to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three 
and fortieth degree of north hititude, and on the south by 
a circle to be drawn at twelve miles' distance from New- 
castle northward and iceshvard unto the heginning of the 
fortieth degree of north latitude, and thence by a straight 
line w^estward to the limits of the longitude above men- 
tioned." 

Penn, it is said, (Proud's Hist. Pa., 188, 2 ed., 208, n.), 
claimed under this Charter unto the beginning of the 
fortieth degree of north latitude, which would be where 
the thirty-ninth degree terminated. But as I have seen 
no evidence of such preposterous claim from Penn him- 
self, and as it involves the manifest absurdity of a radius 
of twelve miles from Newcastle nortlmard intersecting a 
degree of latitude lying so much further south, it is pro- 
bable it w^as never seriously urged. The ignorance of the 
King's Council of the geography of the country, I have no 
doubt, led them to believe that the thirty-ninth degree of 
north latitude lay twelve miles north of Newcastle, as they 
were probably guided in their description by the chart of 
the celebrated Captain John Smith ; but as it did not in 
fact, and the bounds were fixed by the twelve mile radius 
northward of Newcastle, there was no pretension to ex- 
tend it further south than the twelve miles north of that 
place. 

It was highly important to the proprietor of Pennsyl- 
vania to extinguish the claims of the Duke of York, who 
claimed and exercised jurisdiction upon the western shore 
of the bay and river Delaware, as an appendage to his 



174 WILLIAM PENN 

government of New York ; as the procuring his title to 
that country would enlarge his seaboard, which his saga- 
cious eye perceived was wanted, prevent any future inter- 
ference with his province itself, and afford an extensive 
outlet to the produce of his planters. [Penn's Letter to 
the Lords of the Plantations, 1 Proud's Hist., 270-7.] 

Oj^posite as the religious and political opinions of 
William Penn and James, Duke of York, certainly were ; 
and as we must believe, in spite of the angry conclusions 
of the Historical Review (p. 18), drawn from the ridicu- 
lous stories of the times, the former always was a par- 
ticular favorite of the latter. Penn, therefore, through 
his influence, with the Duke, obtained from him in the 
year succeeding the date of his Charter, in consideration 
of his regard for the memory and many faithful services 
of Admiral Penn, a deed of release of all the claim of his 
royal highness to the country within the limits of Penn- 
sylvania, and a grant of his claim to the country on the 
western side of the Bay of Delaware, as far south as 
" Whoarkill, otherwise called Cape Hinlopen," including 
the town of Newcastle and a district of twelve miles 
around it, and what were afterwards called by Penn the 
counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex. This tract of 
country was long afterwards known by the name of the 
territories of Pennsylvania, and the then lower counties 
of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, and now constitutes the 
State of Delaware. It appears, from the manuscript 
sketch of the notes of Mr. Hamilton, of the testimony 
taken under the commissions issued in the famous cause 
in Chancery, in England, between the Penns and Lord 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 175 

Baltimore (and now in the Land Office at Harrisburg), 
that these counties, in more ancient time, were called 
New Amstel, New Hale, and AVhoarkill. Sussex main- 
tained the name of Whoarkill until after the surrender 
of the country to William Penn. 

The Proprietary of Pennsylvania found himself imme- 
diately on his arrival in America, in 1682, involved in 
extreme difficulties respecting the conflicting claims, of 
Charles, Lord Baltimore, the son of Cecelius, the original 
patentee of Marjdand, not only as respected the western 
shore of the Bay of Delaware, but also as to the southern 
limits of his province of Pennsylvania. 

The latter claimed with much plausibility, according to 
the terms of his grant, not only the whole " Chersonese 
or peninsula, between the Bay of Chesapeake and Dela- 
ware," but all the lands lying " under the fortieth degree 
of north latitude;" as respected the peninsula, it was 
objected that, as his grant only contemplated the transfer 
of lands which were ^^hactenas incidta" it could not in- 
clude the western shore of Delaware, which had been 
settled several years before its date by the Swedes and 
Dutch. If this obstacle to the literal construction of his 
Charter could have been surmounted. Lord Baltimore had 
a clear right to the whole peninsula ; but it is apparent, 
if the settlements of the Swedes and Dutch had been 
effijcted before 1632,* the king had no right to transfer the 
territory of other nations, and which did not appertain to 
the Crown of England. That such settlements had been 



* See note at page 167. — Editor. 



176 WILLIAM PENN 

effected at that early period seems incontrovertible, and 
that Lord Baltimore was aware of their existance is ad- 
mitted by Kilty, in his Landholder's Assistant (p. 165), 
as he had been in Virginia shortly before the date of his 
Charter. And, indeed. Governor Stuyvesant, in a mani- 
festo he transmitted to Lord Baltimore, respecting the 
claim of the Dutch to the shores of Delaware Bay, asserts 
their having had a settlement at Cape Henlopen as early 
as before the planting of Virginia, but that it had been 
destroyed by the Indians. 

Yet it seems very unlikely that the King's Council 
could have been entirely ignorant of those settlenients or 
of Clayborne's, on Kent Island, in the Bay of Chesapeake, 
and it is probable that the phrase '^partly inhabited," in 
the preamble to the Charter, was inserted purposely to 
embrace any settlements within its limits. 

But it was afterwards alleged against the validity of 
his lordship's Charter, that his majesty was deceived in 
the representations made to him of the country being 
wholly uncultivated, and that therefore the Charter was 
void, at least so far as respected the cultivated parts. 
The law of England holding, with courteous deference to 
royal grantors, that if the king was deceived in the grant, 
or granted a greater estate than he had himself, the grant 
was wholly invalid (1 Co., 144 ; Com. Dig. Grant, 8 G. ; 1 
Ves., 452). This doctrine always operated beneficially 
for the Crown ; and amounted, during the terrors of the 
Star Chamber, to saying that royal donors might revoke 
their Charters whenever it suited their pohcy or conveni- 
ence. This imputation upon the vahdity of Lord Balti- 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 177 

more's Patent was stated in the bill (said to have been 
penned by Mr. Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, — Bozr- 
man's Maryland) filed in Chancery, in England, by the 
Penns v. Lord Baltimore, the trial of which is reported in 
1 Ves., 450. The grant, however, was void, or might be 
construed to pass all the right of the Crown, such as it 
was, to the settled parts of the country, just as his 
majesty might be pleased to decree; and as they were 
afterwards reduced by the British arms, they might 
have been considered as inuring to the use of the 
patentee. 

The grant of Marjdand was at least as valid as that 
made in 1664, by King Charles II. to his brother James, 
Duke of York, of the Dutch settlements, called by them 
the New Netherlands, embracing in part what is now the 
States of New York and New Jersey, at a time when the 
Enghsh government and the States generally were at 
peace, and in violation of Oliver Cromwell's treaty of 
1653, which guaranteed to the Dutch the full enjoyment 
of their possessions in America. It is true, that at that 
time the two governments were not on very good terms, 
and were growhng at each other no little, but there was 
no open rupture to justify the proceeding or add validity 
to the grant, as war did not break out till several months 
afterwards. [6 Hume's Hist. Eng., 283.] 

The Duke of York conquered not only the Dutch settle- 
ments within the limits of his grant, which was bounded 
westward by the bay and river Delaware, but in the same 
year commissioned Sir Robert Carr to subdue their pos- 
sessions on the eastern shore of the same bay and river ; 

12 



178 WILLIAM PENN 

and after their reduction, which was easily effected, exer- 
cised sovereignty over them as an appendage to his gov- 
ernment of New York, till 1682, when he transferred his 
claim to the western shore and Bay of Delaware to 
"William Penn. 

Lord Baltimore's claim to the land lying under the 
fortieth degree of north latitude, agreeably to the lan- 
guage of his Charter, was urged with equal plausibility 
and as little success. He insisted, with much ajDparent 
reasonableness, that the words "w^hich lieth under the 
fortieth degree of north latitude," in his Charter, meant 
certainly a northward extension of his boundary beyond 
the termination of the thirty-ninth, and that he was 
entitled, by the plain and express words of his Patent, 
to extend his limits to the forty-first degree of north 
latitude, and embrace the whole fortieth degree. But the 
weakness of his claim to the country north of the thirty- 
ninth degree will be manifest, when we reflect that his 
Charter limits his northern boundary expressly to the 
" Bay of Delaware," and that consequently he could not, 
without going beyond a designated natural monument of 
his boundaries, extend his northern line beyond the point 
where the bay terminates, and that the limits of the 
Patent must be construed with reference to the informa- 
tion of the country before the Council, when it was 
granted. That information, it would seem, consisted 
entirely of the historical account and chart of that part 
of the New World, by the celebrated Captain John 
Smith, as is alleged in the Bill of Chancery already men- 
tioned, and supported by the testimony taken under the 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 179 

commissions issued to America in that cause, as appears 
by the rough drafts of it taken for the Penns by Mr. 
Hamilton, and on file in the office of the Secretary of the 
Land Office of Pennsylvania. James Logan deposed 
"that Captain Smith's History of Virginia was the best, 
as it was the first book published by any Englishman of 
that country ; and that his map of the Chesapeake Bay, 
so called at that time, and the parts adjacent, was the 
most correct account of the first discoveries of a new 
country he had ever seen ; and that he neither knew or 
believed any other account, or drafts, or maps of that 
country, were published before 1632," the date of Lord 
Baltimore's Charter; and testimony of a similar import 
was taken from other witnesses well acquainted with that 
part of the country. As these charts, it appears, fixed 
the fortieth degree of north latitude at the head of the 
Bay of Delaware, and, if the Charter was to be construed 
with reference to the intelligence before the Council, at 
the time it issued, as was the opinion of the Attorney and 
Solicitor-Generals, Ryder, Yorke, Willes, and Weary, the 
northern limits should be restricted to those natural 
boundaries by which they were designated, and not as 
the latter remarks, " by an imaginary point of the 
heavens," although subsequent and more accurate obser- 
vations might have ascertained that latitude to lie much 
further north than the head of the bay. 

Lord Baltimore alleged that the fortieth degree of 
north latitude had been ascertained, and part of the line 
run in 1681, in pursuance of a letter of the king; but the 
Proprietary of Pennsylvania denied that any such line 



180 WILLIAM PENN 

had been run, and that if any attempt had been made for 
that jDurpose, it was done without his knowledge or con- 
sent by Lord Baltimore's agents (1 Proud, 277), and in 
violation of his Charter. The claims of Maryland were 
asserted with continued acrimony, violence, and occa- 
sional bloodshed, and as pertinaciously resisted, until they 
were finally terminated and abandoned in 1760, by the 
mutual agreement of the parties. 

As the Duke of York claimed, by right of conquest, the 
settlements on the western shores of the Bay of Delaware, 
and had, by his deed of 1682, transferred to William 
Penn his title to that country, embracing the town of 
Newcastle and twelve miles around it (as a reasonable 
portion of land attached to it), and as far down as what 
was then called Cape Henlopen ; an important subject of 
controversy was the true situation of that cape, and 
the ascertainment of the southern and western bound- 
aries of the country along the bay, as transferred by the 
Duke's deed. 

Though Charles, Lord Baltimore, as I have heard, was 
a man of the fashionable world, and deeply devoted to its 
pleasures, yet he was by no means inactive in the pro- 
tection of his interest and in the prosecution of his claims. 
After two personal interviews in America, the Proprie- 
taries separated without coming to any arrangement and 
with mutual recriminations and dissatisfaction. And 
they each wrote to the Lords of Plantations, excusing 
themselves and blaming the other. Li 1683, Lord Balti- 
more petitioned the king to make Penn no fresh or con- 
firmatory grant, and urged the plausibility of his own 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 181 

claims (1 Proud's Hist., 293) ; and, in the same j'ear, 
issued a proclamation, offering lands at lower rates than 
usual within the disputed territory (Vid. 265, N.), for the 
purpose of inducing settlers to take out their titles under 
his government. The issuing of those proclamations he 
afterwards very uncandidly denied to Penn's agent, until 
his memory was refreshed by their production, and then 
refused to recall them, alleging (1 Proud's Hist., 272) 
that they proclaimed only the ancient prices. In the 
same year, he commissioned Colonel Talbot to demand of 
William Penn all the lands lying south of the forty-first 
degree of north latitude (1 Proud, 374) ; and his agents 
shortly after made several attempts, by force, to reduce 
to submission to his authority the planters who lived in 
the disputed borders under Pennsylvania titles, and kept 
the country in continual alarm. 

At length, in 1685, one important step was taken 
towards the decision of the conflicting claims of Mary- 
land and Pennsylvania, by a decree of King James' 
Council, which ordered, " that for avoiding further differ- 
ences, the tract of land lying between the Bay of Dela- 
ware and the eastern sea, on the one side, and the Chesa- 
peake Bay on the other, be divided into equ-al parts, by a 
line from the latitude of Cape BenJopen, to the fortieth 
degree of north latitude, the southern boundary of Penn- 
sylvania by Charter ; and that the one-half thereof, lying 
towards the Bay of Delaware and the eastern sea, be 
adjudged to belong to his majesty, and the other half to 
Lord Baltimore, as comprised in his Charter." (1 Proud, 
293, N.) The power of the King's Council to decide 



182 WILLIAM PENN 

upon disputed proprietary boundaries, and to enlarge or 
restrict their limits, is fully recognized in the several 
opinions of the eminent Council already alluded to, 
unless when the parties had entered into agreement to 
settle their disputes themselves. 

This decree of King James, which evidently exhibits a 
partiality towards the claims of Penn, in decreeing the 
eastern half of the peninsula to his majesty, with whom 
Lord Baltimore could not presume, and indeed had 
declined to dispute, instead of to the Proprietary him- 
self, by no means removed the difficulties which hung 
V over this tedious, expensive, and vexatious litigation. 
For, as we will hereafter see, there existed as much un- 
certainty with respect to the true situation of Cape Hen- 
lopen, and the ascertainment of the middle of the Penin- 
sula, as any points in contest. 

However, after continued altercation between the Pro- 
prietaries and their respective settlers, which was inter- 
rupted and perhaps protracted by the death of William 
Penn, in 1718, and the death of the first Charles, Lord 
Baltimore, who escaped from his worldly troubles in 1714, 
his grandson of the same name, and great grandson of 
Cecelius, the original patentee, entered into articles of 
agreement with John Penn, Richard Penn, and Thomas 
Penn (who had become, by the Will of their father, sole 
Proprietaries of his American possessions), on the 10th 
of May, 1732, which I suppose they fancied would settle 
their respective boundaries to their mutual satisfaction. 

By this celebrated agreement, amongst other things 
not so important to the object of this essay, it was 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 183 

mutually covenanted and agreed, tliat the chart annexed 
to the agreement, which embraced the country in dispute 
and the adjacent parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and 
Virginia, was a correct impression of the charts sent over 
to the contracting parties ; that they would regulate their 
negotiations by it ; that a semicircle should be drawn at 
twelve English statute miles around Newcastle, agreeably 
to the deed of the Duke of York to William Penn, in 
1682 ; that an east and west line should be drawn, begin- 
ing at Cape Henlopen (which was admitted to be below 
Cape Cornehus) and running westward to the exact 
middle of the Peninsula ; that from the exact middle of 
the Peninsula, between the two bays of Chesapeake and 
Delaware, and the end of the line intersecting it in the 
latitude of Cape Henlopen, a line should be run north- 
ward, so as to form a tangent with the periphery of the 
semicircle at Newcastle, drawn with the radius of twelve 
English statute miles, whether such line should take a 
due north course or not ; that, after the said northwardly 
line should touch the Newcastle semicircle, it should be 
run further northward, until it reached the same latitude 
as fifteen English statute miles due south of the most 
southern part of the city of Philadelphia ; that from the 
northern point of such line a due west line should be run, 
at least for the present, across the Susquehanna Eiver 
and twenty-five miles beyond it, and to the western 
limits of Pennsylvania, when occasion and the improve- 
ments of the country should require ; that that part of 
the due west line not actually run, though imaginary, 
should be considered to be the true boundary of Mary- 



184 WILLIAM PENN 

land and Pennsylvania ; that within two months, seven 
Commissioners should be appointed by each of the con- 
tracting j)arties, any three or more of whom should be a 
quorum, to run and mark the said boundaries ; that the 
Commissioners should commence their operations as early 
as October and finish in December of the same year, with 
all fairness and despatch ; that the route should be well 
marked by trees and other natural objects, and designated 
by stone pillars, sculptured with the arms of the contract- 
ing parties, facing their respective possessions ; and that, 
in case a quorum of the Commissioner of either party 
failed to attend, that the defaulting party should forfeit 
to the other the sum of five thousand pounds. 

This important document, though drawn with all im- 
aginable skill and precision, from heads furnished by the 
high contracting parties themselves (1 Ves., 451), and 
seemingly so free of ambiguity, yet was afterwards the 
subject of much litigation and cavil, both in England and 
America. But as it was finally carried into complete 
efiect in all its parts, it afibrds information highly inter- 
esting. It accounts for the boundaries of what is now 
the State of Delaware, then called the three lower 
counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex ; and explains 
why the point which is noticed on the maps, was pro- 
duced between the semicircle around Newcastle and the 
line running through the Peninsula and past the place of 
contact with it, to within fifteen miles south of the lati- 
tude of Philadelphia. 

The developement of the negotiations between Lord 
Baltimore and the Proprietary of Pennsylvania shows 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 185 

the anxiety and vexation suffered, and the immense 
expense incurred by both parties in ascertaining the 
limits of their respective grants. In the agreement of 
1732, each party fancied they had made important con- 
cessions and sacrifices for the sake of peace. That Lord 
Baltimore really thought so, there can be little doubt; for 
he seems by his Charter, if it was valid at all, to have a 
very plausible pretension, not only to all the uncultivated 
lands covered by the fortieth degree, but even to the cul- 
tivated shores of the Bay of Delaware. Taking from him 
however the settled country in that quarter at the date 
of his grant in 1632, and which reached perhaps up 
nearly to Philadelphia, and lea\dng the settlements a 
reasonable portion of back country, he might well sup- 
pose himself entitled fairly to extend his northern limits 
to the beginning of the forty-first degree of north latitude, 
instead of stopping fifteen miles below that city. This 
would have^ given him a strip of land now forming a very 
valuable portion of Pennsylvania, constituting a great 
part of what is now the counties of Philadelphia, Chester, 
Lancaster, York, Adams, Franklin, Bedford, Somerset, 
Fayette, and Greene. The Penns evidently were gainers 
by the agreement, and made no concession of territory. 
They certainly had the advantage of the Maryland Pro- 
prietaries in coolness and circumspection, and the dis- 
putes, however tedious, expensive, and irksome to them, 
must have been equally so to him. WilUam Penn pos- 
sessed, during his whole life, the advantage of Lord 
Baltimore, in his favor at court. He was upon the most 
intimate footing with King James, so much so, indeed, as 



186 WILLIAM PENN 

to have been currently suspected, as he says himself, of 
being a Jesuit. He had, as well as his father, Admiral 
Penn, not only rendered important personal services to 
that Prince, but inculcated the doctrine of passive obedi- 
ence, and of rendering unto Caesar the things that are 
Ceesar's, — a doctrine so sweet and soothing to the royal 
ears of the house of Stewart. After the revolution, 
though William Penn was in disgrace at court, in the 
reign of King William, on account of his constancy to his 
unfortunate benefactor, yet Lord Baltimore was no less 
so, as being a Roman Catholic, and on account of some 
delay in proclaiming in his province the accession of the 
Protestant dynasty, and was strongly threatened with 
deprivation of Charter by scire facias. The claims of 
Penn, during James' reign, were somewhat the cause of 
the Crown ; and, in King William's time, they were 
actually so, as the Crown had then resumed the govern- 
ment of Pennsylvania and its territories. And in the 
reign of Queen Anne, as the British Government were in 
treaty with the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, for the 
entire purchase of his rights to his provinces, for the sum 
of twelve thousand pounds, and had actually paid him 
one thousand pounds ujDon the strength of the negotia- 
tion, the Lord Baltimore must have felt the pressure of 
his situation and the obvious advantage of his ojDponents, 
and despaired of ever seeing his pretensions finally suc- 
cessful. 

All these untoward circumstances must have influenced 
the minds of the Lords Baltimore during the progress of 
the transaction, ^^revious to the agreement of 1732, and 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 187 

induced them to recede from pretensions which they had 
persisted in with sufficient pertinacity and violence, and 
which were abandoned subsequently with much reluct- 
ance, and many captious objections. 

So far in the progress of those imj^ortant negotiations, 
the Lords Baltimore may not be blameable to a great 
degree, but the transactions w^hich transpired subse- 
quently, and the many frivolous and captious objections, 
and unreasonable constructions attempted to be put upon 
their contract of 1732, by their agents, showed more a 
disposition to oppose and protract than to promote the 
adjustment of their disputes agreeably to that instrument. 
Lord Baltimore, it is true, hy his counsel, in the argument 
of the cause in Chancery, in England, which arose out of 
the agreement, disavowed their conduct, but, at the same 
time, urged the invalidity of the agreement, on the ground 
of impositions on the part of the Penns and his ow^i igno- 
rance of the nature of his rights. 

Every obstacle seems to have been thrown in the w ay 
of carrying the agreement between the parties into oper- 
ation, by Lord Baltimore and his agents, who manifested 
an anxious desire to evade its provisions. 

The public records at Harrisburg furnish no detail of 
what transpired between the Commissioners w-ho met at 
Newcastle, to run the lines as agreed upon, though the 
minutes of their transactions seems to have been volum- 
inous (Provincial Records, Vol. K., p. 354) ; and what 
will be here stated of them, is taken from the articles of 
agreement entered into between Frederick, Lord Balti- 
more, and Thomas and Richard Penn, in 1760. 



188 WILLIAM PENN 

There are great deficiencies in the early pubUc records 
of the Provincial Government. When the Revolutionary 
War broke out, they were in the hands of their Secretary, 
Joseph Shippen, who, I have been informed, when they 
were peremptorily demanded by the Commonwealth, 
made a very reluctant and mutilated return, embracing 
only the books of the provincial records, and excluding 
all the loose documents of his office. 

The Commissioners made little or no progress in effect- 
ing the object of their appointment, and were under the 
necessity of dispersing without coming to any definite 
arrangements. Lord Baltimore's Commissioners behaving, 
as Lord Hardwick afterwards remarked (1 Ves., 455), 
with great chicanery through their whole negotiations. 

One of the Commissioners of the Penns arriving half 
an hour or so later than the period designated, the Mary- 
land Commissioners at first objected to the jDroceeding, 
alleging that the contract was broken, and the five thous- 
and pounds penalty forfeited ; and when that 2)oint w^as 
waived, they insisted that the semicircle around New- 
castle should be drawn with a periijJiery, and not a radius 
of twelve miles, thus shutting their eyes to the very 
words and manifest intention of what the Lord Chan- 
cellor declared to be the plainest part of the agreement. 
They made further difficulties about the centre of the 
semicircle around the town (which it seems, even in 
those early days, covered a considerable extent of 
ground), and refused to consider the true situation of 
Cape Henlopen to be where the Proprietaries themselves 
had fixed it. 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 189 

And Lord Baltimore, the year following, 1734, (Kilty's 
Landholder, p. 171,) in direct violation of his contract, 
presented a petition to his majesty, praying for a confir- 
mation of his Charter, as made to his great-grandfather, 
Cecelius, the original patentee ; but I beUeve it was not 
acted upon, probably on the ground that as the bound- 
aries had been settled by the parties themselves in their 
articles of agreement, the Council had no authority to 
interfere, as their jurisdiction was confined to original un- 
settled conflicting chartered grants of colonial territory ; 
and the consideration of his prayer was postponed, to 
give the parties an opportunity of trying the validity or 
abandonment of their articles of agreement of 1732, by a 
judicial tribunal. 

In 1735, John, Richard, and Thomas Penn filed a Bill 
in Chancery against Lord Baltimore, praying for a decree 
of specific performance of the articles ; which, from the 
death of John Penn, and the necessity of adding other 
parties, and the unconscionable delay incident to proceed- 
ings in that Court, was not finally pronounced for sixteen 
years. 

In the meantime, the quiet of the provinces continuing 
to be interrupted, and riots and disturbances occurring 
from the violence of Maryland pretensions, both parties 
applied, in 1737, to the King's Council, for some order 
which should lessen or allay these ferments. A decree 
was made, but not having been carried into operation 
was rescinded, and the claimants again appeared person- 
ally, and being heard by the Council, the consideration 
of the subject was adjourned upon an intimation of the 



190 WILLIAM PENN 

probability of an amicable arrangement. This was hap- 
pily effected. It was agreed, between the high contract- 
ing parties, " that all the vacant land not now possessed 
by or under either of them, on the east side of Susque- 
hanna Eiver down as far as fifteen miles and a quarter 
south of the latitude of the most southern part of the city 
of Philadelphia ; and on the west side of Susquehanna, as 
far south as fourteen miles and three-quarters south of the 
latitude of the most southern part of the city of Philadel- 
phia, should be subject to the temporary and provisional 
jurisdiction of Pennsylvania ; and that to all vacant land 
not possessed by or under either, on both sides of the 
Susquehanna, south of the said temporary limits, should 
be subject to the jurisdiction of Maryland, until the 
boundaries should be finally settled ; and that the provis- 
ionary and temporary limits, as thus established, should 
continue until the boundaries were finally settled, but to 
be without prejudice to either party." And when this 
convention was reported to the Council, his majesty was 
pleased to order " That the Proprietaries of the respective 
provinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania do cause the 
said agreement to be carried into execution (Provincial 
Kecord, Vol. K., p. 61)." The order was accordingly pro- 
mulgated by proclamation in the provinces, and Commis- 
sioners were, the following year, appointed to run the 
" temporary line :" Richard Peters and Lawrence Grow- 
den on the part of Pennsylvania, and Colonel Levin Gale 
and Samuel Chamberlaine on that of Maryland. These 
Commissioners commenced their active operations in the 
spring of 1739; and, after proceeding as far as the eastern 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 191 

bank of the Susquehanna, were interrupted by the depart- 
ure of Colonel Gale, on account of death and sickness in 
his family, and the declaration of Mr. Chamberlaine Jiat 
he had no authority to continue operations without the 
attendance of his colleague. The Pennsylvania Commis- 
sioners, deeming their power to proceed confined to a 
united operation with those of Maryland, received further 
instructions to proceed alone from Governor Thomas. 
They accordingly did so, and run the hue westward of 
the Susquehanna, " to the most western of the Kittoch- 
tinny Hills," which now forms the western boundary of 
the county of Franklin. There is in the office of the 
Surveyor-General, at Harrisburg, a copy of their minutes, 
and a beautiful manuscri^^t colored map of their route. 
The course run by these Commissioners formed the 
famous " temporary line," so well known to the lawyers 
and settlers on the southern boundary of our Common- 
wealth, and in some measure allayed the turmoil of the 
provinces. 

The cause in Chancery, between the Penns and Lord 
Baltimore, was not decided until 1750. On the hearing. 
Lord Baltimore's counsel contended that it could not be 
carried into effect, on account of its vagueness and uncer- 
tainty, and that the contract had been abandoned by the 
neglect of the Commissioners of Pennsylvania to meet at 
the time appointed, and that the five thousand pounds 
penalty was forfeited. 

The Lord Chancellor, however, overcame all the objec- 
tions urged in the argument, which occupied five days, 
and decreed a performance of the articles of agTeement. 



192 WILLIAM PENN 

He directed that new Commissioners should be appointed 
within three months after the decree, who should com- 
mence their operations in November following (1 Ves. 
453). He further ordered that the centre of the semi- 
circle should be fixed as near the centre of the town of 
Newcastle as may be ; that it should be described with a 
radius of twelve English statute miles, " so that no part 
of the town should be further than that distance from the 
periphery, and that Cape Henlopen should be taken to be 
situated as it was laid down in the chart accompanying 
the articles of agreement." 

The commissioners were appointed agreeably to the 
decree, and met at New Castle on the 15th November, 
1750. They fixed upon the court house of New Castle 
as the centre for drawing the semicircle, but the captious 
chicanery of Lord Baltimore's commissioners conjured up 
a new and unexpected difficulty by insisting that the 
radii of the semicircle should be measured superficially 
without allowing for the inequalities of the ground, re- 
gardless of the absurd consequences resulting from such 
modes of measurement in creating inequahty in the radii, 
and the consequent impossibihty of describing anything 
deserving the name of a semicircle. But, as the objection 
was persisted in, the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania were 
again under the necessity of a further application to 
chancery, under the reservations in the former decree, 
and obtained in 1751 a decision in favor of horizontal 
measurement. 

The commissioners again proceeding in their task, 
Charles, Lord Baltimore died, but as the peace and happi- 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 193 

ness of the two provinces depended on the settlement of 
these protracted disputes, they did not on that account 
suspend their operations. Having run the semicircle 
agreeably to the Lord Chancellor's decree with a radius 
of twelve English statute miles by horizontal admeasure- 
ment, and marked it on the ground, they commenced their 
operations at Cape Henlopen. 

Fixing the southern boundary of the three lower coun- 
ties (now the State of Delaware), at Fen wick's Island, 
requires explanation, as the chart of the Proprietaries, 
accompanying their agreement of 1732, gives to the cape 
opposite Cape May, at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, 
the name of Cape Cornelius, and the point at Fen wick's 
Island, that of Henlopen, and the maps of the present 
day transpose that order. The Swedes on their first 
arrival in 1672,* landed at the interior cape, afterwards 
called Inlopen, and named it Paradise Point from its 
pleasant appearance [Bozman's History of Maryland, p. 
244] ; a fatiguing voyage giving, I presume, a liveliness to 
their feelings which the view of a sandy bluff, under ordi- 



* This is a transposition by the printer of 16'72 for 162Y, the latter 
being, as ah'eady mentioned, an erroneous date. See note pp. tO, 
167. The Swedes, although there is no proof of it, may have landed 
here in 1638, on their way to Christina. If they did, they remained 
but a few days. That they, however, designated as " Paradise 
Point," that which De Vries had previously called " Swanendael," is 
shown by Lindstrom, M.S. map of 1655, where it is named " Paradis 
udden le Cap de Paradis ;" and the present Lewes Creek, the scene 
of the murder of De Yries' unfortunate colony, "Mordarc Kylen, la 
Riviere des Assassins." It is curious that the stream which empties 
into the Bay near Jones Creek, should now be called "Murder 
Creek." — Editor, 
13 



194 WILLIAM PENN 

nary circumstances, would not have produced. "This 
cape," says Proud [1 Hist. Penn., Ill], "is frequently 
confounded with Cape Henlopen, the interior or False 
Cape at Fenwick's Island, being written in the same 
manner and sometimes Henlopen. It was formerly called 
Cape Cornelius, and afterwards by William Penn, Cape 
James." Bozman [Hist. Maryland, 244] concludes that 
the confounding of the appellations arose from the addition 
of the aspirate, which, in the Swedish language, when 
prefixed to the word Inlopen, altered the sense of it from 
the interior to the exterior cape. It is probable that the 
Swedes might have called the interior Cape Inlopen, and 
the exterior Henlopen, and that when the Dutch en- 
croached upon their neighbors in those parts, they gave 
the name of Cornehus to the interior cape, leaving the 
former to its original appellation of Hinlopen. For it 
appears from Hamilton (MSS. notes of the testimony 
taken under the commissions issued to America in the 
chancery cause between the Proprietaries), that in early 
times "the cape on Fenwick's Island was called Hen- 
lopen," and that " South Cape, twenty, miles below the 
mouth of Delaware Bay, was called Cape Hinlopen." One 
witness said that " False Cape was formerly called Hin- 
lopen in his father's time, who was a pilot Hving fifteen 
miles below the mouth of Delaware Bay," and another, 
that he "had seen Dutch and English maps in which 
there were two capes laid down (published in 1G72) to 
the south of the entrance into the Delaware Bay, and 
that the southernmost was called Cape Hinlopen, and the 
most northwardly, tying at the south side of the entrance, 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 195 

was called Cape Cornelius ;" and Lord Hardwick, in de- 
livering his judgment already alluded to, said (1 Ves., 
452), "that it was clear by the proof that the true situ- 
ation of Cape Henlopen was as laid down in the place 
accompanying the agreement, and not where Cape Cor- 
nelius is (^. e. then), as the defendant (Lord Baltimore) 
contended, which would leave out a great part of what 
was intended to be included in the grant," meaning that 
of the Duke of York to Wilham Penn. 

How the names of Henlopen and Cornelius became 
transposed as they are on the maps of the present day, 
I leave to those who are better acquainted with "modern 
antiquities ;" but that they have changed positions since 
1732 is not susceptible of contradiction.* 

* The establishment of the true position of Cape Henlopen was a 
most important matter for the Penns, and they succeeded in show- 
ing, contrary to the allegation of Lord Baltimore, and from the testi- 
mony of the early maps, that the present Henlopen was formerly 
" Cornelius," and the true Henlopen, at the period of Penu's grant, 
was about fifteen or twenty miles more southwardly. The earliest 
instance of transposition, so far as we know, may be found in the 
Chart accompanying the "English Pilot," London, 1148, in which 
old Henlopen is not indicated. The plate, however, bears evidence 
of a date much earlier than the letter press. In Huske's Map, Lon- 
don, 1155, in the Harvard Library, and which we have examined, 
the lower cape is called " False Cape," and the upper Henlopen. 
Several explanations have been given of the origin of the name. Dr. 
E. B. O'Callaghan, in his valuable History of the New Netherlands, 
Vol. I., p. 13, is of the opinion it was called Hinlopen after " Hindlo- 
pen, one of the towns in Friesland ;" we do not, however, find it so 
spelt* in any of the numerous maps we have examined, although it 
is to be found in every variety of orthography. 



* Mr. Hazard (Annals, 23) spells it "Hindlop," quoting the Grant to Godyn, 
from the Albany Records ; but we imagine the Breviat, p. 34, which sets forth 



196 WILLIAM PENN 

As the Lord Chancellor had decided that Cape Hen- 
lopen should be taken to be where Cape Henlopen had 
been agreed to be nineteen years before, the ingenuity of 
the commissioners of Maryland could devise no further 
objections in that particular ; and proceeding to operations 
in conjunction with those of Pennsylvania, they finally 

The first mention of it, so far as we have seen, is in the Indian 
Grant, made in 1629, to Samuel Godyn, where it is called " Hin- 
loop;'''' and upon the earliest map where it occurs, that entitled 
" Carta Particolare della Nuoua Belgia e parte della Nuoua Anglia," 
and which Dr. O'Callaghan is of the belief was engraved in 1631, 
(Documentary History of New York, Vol. I.,) it is named Hinlopen. 
De Vries, the celebrated navigator, under date of 1632, calls it Hin- 
loopen. (De Yries' Journal, translated by Mr. H. C. Murphy, p. 44.) 
He also fixes its latitude at 88° 20,' which very nearly corresponds 
with the modern reckoning, and does not with the present cape, 
which, by the Coast Survey, is 38° 55' 48." 

Another explanation, as stated by Mr. Hazard (Annals of Penna., 
5), is, that " some say it was from lima Hinlop." We have, how- 
ever, been unable to discover any person of this name in any cotem- 
porary records. A still further explanation, and which we offer, may 
be from the fact, that it was a local appellation derived from the 
natural character of the cape. The answer of Lord Baltimore (Bre- 
viat, p. 20, item 2t0) asserts that it was from the Dutch word Hin- 
lopen, which he says signifies "going in." The object of this 
attempt is obvious, — it was to show that such a derivation would 
apply in the sense of entering or going in, to the upper cape only 
which projects into the Bay and whose northern side affords a 
shelter as the navigator sails towards Lewes, the first point on leav- 
ing the ocean where safety can best be sought and where the Break- 



the same grant, is the more correct. It is there spelt "Hinloop." The Exhibit 
of the grant is set forth in Breviat, in the following words : 

"An Exemplification or Inspeximus, under His Majesty's Great Seal of the 
Province of New York, of the following Record, remaining in the Secretary's 
Oflace of that Province (being proved, additionally, by two witnesses in the 
cause, viz., Thomas Nixon and William Vandespiegel, to contain a true copy and 
also a true translation of a Book of Dutch Patents, in the following words.") 
[Here follows the confirmation of Godyn's Grant.] 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 197 

fixed a stone at one hundred and thirty-nine perches from 
the cape at Fenwick's Island, " near four mulberry trees," 
sculptured with the arms of Baltimore on the south, and 
those of Penn on the north, and proceeded to run the 
line across the peninsula, " and ascertain the exact 
middle" as a point from whence to run the northwardly 
line to form a tangent with the semicircle at New Castle. 
They then run the line between the two bays in the lati- 
tude of Cape Henlopen (as agreed upon), until they 
reached the waters of Slaughter's Creek (not now laid 
down in the maps), a distance of sixty miles and two 

water is now built, while the construction put upon the word as so 
translated would not apply to the lower or true Henlopen. Unfortu- 
natelj, however, for Lord Baltimore's claim, the word in the Dutch 
appropriate to express to go, is "gaen,^' or going — "gaende,^^ while the 
word "loopen" signifies to run, and "een loopinge''^ "a running or a 
coursing" cape or shore, which very naturally may have been 
changed to Enlopen or Henlopen. (Hexham's " English and 
Nether. Dutch Dictionarie," Amsterdam, )64t.) This explanation 
precisely describes the character of the ancient Henlopen or False 
Cape, presenting, on approach, a running, vanishing, or receding 
point, similar to that which " Point No Point" exhibits on the Dela- 
ware, upon nearing Bridesburg. — Editor. 

Since the above was written, the testimony of James Logan, to be 
found in the " Breviat," Penn versus Baltimore, p. 97, has, for the first 
time, met our eye, and which confirms the correctness of the origin 
of the name as we have endeavored to prove it. Logan cites Wm. 
Sewall's Dutch and English Dictionary, Amsterdam, 1108, to show 
that the word " Loopen^^ means "to run away," while " Inloopen" 
means " to run in, to flow, or stream into," — and he thinks the latter 
title was, " in process of time, transferred to the more northerly and 
real cape and entrance in the Bay of Delaware, as more properly 
suiting the same." This conjecture, it appears to us, reconciles every 
difficulty, and shows how the transposition naturally occurred. — 
Editor. 



198 WILLIAM PENN 

hundred and forty-eight and a half perches, when the 
fruitful inventions of the Maryland commissioners, alleging 
that, as they had reached the waters running into the 
Chesa]3eake Bay, they had run across the peninsula, agree- 
ably to the spirit of the articles of agreement, and in- 
sisted upon stopping. The line, however, was continued 
till they passed through Taylor's and part of James's 
Islands, a distance of sixty-nine miles and two hundred 
and ninety-eight and a half perches, from hay to bay. 
But as the commissioners of Lord Baltimore refused to 
proceed to ascertain the middle of the peninsula, unless 
their computation was adopted, it became necessary for 
the Penns to file a supplemental bill in chancery against 
Frederick, Lord Baltimore, to force him to adopt the line 
of sixty-nine miles and two hundred and ninety-eight and 
a half perches as the distance across the peninsula, from 
bay to bay, and ascertain its exact middle, from whence 
the northwardly line should be run so as to form a tangent 
with the New Castle semicircle, and past it to the latitude 
of fifteen Fngiish statute miles south of the most southern 
part of Philadelphia. 

Whilst this bill was pending, Frederick, Lord Balti- 
more, tired of the Htigation and expense of the disputes, 
which he did not probably understand, as he was then 
young, and perhaps finding himself driven from every 
possible chance of further cavil, finally entered into 
articles of agreement with Thomas Penn and Richard 
Penn in 1760, which at length effectually closed their 
protracted and vexatious altercations. 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 199 

By tliis agreement it was covenanted, tliat the semi- 
circle as already run should be adopted ; that the distance 
across the peninsula, in the latitude of Cape Henlopen, 
should be taken to have been rightfully run at sixty-nine 
miles and two hundred and ninety-eight and a half 
perches from the stone pillar east of " the mulberry tree, 
at Fenwick's Island," and marked with the arms of the 
contracting parties ; that the middle of such line should 
be ascertained, and a stone pillar should be fixed at that 
point ; that from such point a northwardly line should be 
run, whether the same should be due north or not, so as 
to form a tangent with the semicircle at New Castle, 
drawn with a radius of twelve English statute horizontal 
miles, from the court house in that place, and past the 
said point of contact further north till it reached the 
latitude of fifteen miles south of the most southern part 
of Philadelphia; that the supplemental bill filed should 
be confessed; that all claim should be released to the 
territory within those limits then to be ascertained ; and 
that the Penns should appoint commissioners to run the 
lines as yet unfinished. 

These articles of agreement of 1760, between Thomas 
Penn, Richard Penn, and Frederick, Lord Baltimore, are 
well known to our courts of justice, and have been 
admitted in evidence without lyroof, as a state paper, with 
which they are presumed to be conversant. They were 
enrolled in chancery in England, in pursuance of a decree 
of that court, found amongst the papers some years ago 
of Dr. Ptoss, (1 Binn., 399,) who had some connexions 
with the Penns as their agent. They are not to be found 



200 WILLIAM PENN 

amongst the public documents of the commonwealth, but 
there was a cojyy of them taken bj the secretary of that 
office, from the origmal, brought there by Samuel Riddle, 
Esq., who was a connexion of Dr. Ross's family, under an 
express written stipulation, that they should be redelivered 
to him after they were copied, as private property. It is 
to be lamented that the original was not filed, for though 
it has been admitted in our courts as evidence in cases of 
disputes, under conflicting Maryland and Pennsylvania 
land titles, yet if they should unfortunately be lost, the 
courts, I presume, would not admit the copy which was 
taken in a large unwieldy book, and much less the copy 
of a copy, unless an act of Assembly should be passed 
giving such copy, or copy of the copy, the character of 
legal evidence. 

Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason were appointed to 
run the unfinished lines in 1761, ?ind extended the western 
line between the two provinces to the distance of two 
hundred and thirty mile^, and marked for one hundred 
and thirty miles by stone pillars, thus putting a final 
termination to disputed territory between Maryland and 
Pennsylvania. This line was afterwards designated 
" Mason and Dixon's line," to distinguish it from " the 
temporary line," rurrin 1*739, as ' already related. I have 
never been able to see the chart or minutes of these latter 
surveys, as they are not amongst the public records of the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.* 

* One of the original books of the field-notes of Mason and Dixon 
is in the possession of Mr. Ferdinand J. Dreer, of this city, which 
he has kindly permitted us to inspect. It is a manuscript folio of 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 201 

These disputes and negotiations of the Proprietaries of 
Maryland and Pennsylvania are curious and interesting, 
as a portion of the early history of the State, and neces- 



two hundred and twenty-six pages, and the first entry is under 
date — " 1*763, November 15. Arrived in Philadelphia." The last 
is — " 1168. Delivered to the Rev. Richard Peters, Plans of the 
above mentioned Lines." 

The entry of each day, with some exceptions, is signed : 

" Chas. Mason," 
" Jere. Dixon." 

On August 2T, 1T64, they speak of the manner in which they made 
their observations : 

" The foregoing observations were made with the Transit Instru- 
ment, in the following manner : Before we left off in the evening a 
mark was placed at the distance of one-half or three-quarters of a 
mile in the line, northward. Then, after the equal altitudes were 
observed, the instrument was adjusted as when we gave off. A 
candle being placed in the centre of the mark, the middle wire in the 
telescope was brought to bisect the light of the candle (the line of 
collomation being just, and the Level proving the horizontal position 
of the axis). Then, the telescope being elevated to the star, the 
time (per watch) of the star's passing the middle (with which the 
line was run) wire was taken. The watch with which these obser- 
vations were made, had only a minute hand, therefore the seconds 
must not be expected as from a good time-piece, nor does the nature 
of the problem require it, as the star made use of (in the tail of Urs. 
Minor) was, at the time of observation, nearly passing the tangent 
of its circle round the Pole, consequently its apparent motion very 
slow." 

Dixon died in England, in 1111; and Mason in Philadelphia, Oct. 
25, 1786. The following account of Mason was published November 
11, 1786, in the Philadelphia Independent Gazefeer: 

" On Wednesday, the 25th of October, died in this city, Mr. 
Charles Mason, lately from England, and author of the most accurate 
set of Lunar and Solar Tables that has ever been exhibited to the 
public. He was formerly employed, in conjunction with Mr. Jerc- 



202 WILLIAM PENN 

sary and important to a proper knowledge of the land 
titles within the disputed territory, the covenants respect- 
ing which, in the famous agreements of 1732 and 1760, 
it is foreign to this sketch to exhibit or explain. The 
whole history of these transactions shows conclusively the 
fairness and candor, the moderation and firmness of Wil- 



miali Dixon, to run the boundary line between Pennsylvania and 
Maryland, which they executed with great skill and accuracy. Since 
his return to England, he has been principally employed in correcting 
and improving the Lunar Tables of the celebrated Professor Mayer, 
and has succeeded so far as to present to the Board of Longitude, in 
London, the best and most exact set of Lunar Tables that were ever 
constructed, for which they gave him, in the year 1780, seven hun- 
dred and fifty pounds sterling. But, as he had spent the most of his 
time since he left Philadelphia in this laborious work and had a 
numerous family to maintain, most of the money was anticipated 
before he received it, and he has now left in this city a widow with 
eight small children, without anything to support them but the 
charity of well-disposed persons and the notice of that State to 
which his former labors were so beneficial. His success in his former 
improvement of the Lunar Tables, and his perfect acquaintance with 
that abstruse and laborious, business, had engaged him to begin 
another and still more accurate correction of them, but dying before 
he could finish the same, he left his manuscripts and papers to the 
Rev. Dr. Ewing, Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, request- 
ing him, with the earnestness and zeal of an astronomer, to under- 
take the laborious task, and exhibit to the world an American set of 
Lunar and Solar Tables, which would be still- more accurate than 
anything yet published in Europe. His former acquaintance with 
the Provost, as an astronomer and mathematician, induced him to 
leave his valuable manuscripts to him, in hopes that some way may 
be devised of making them useful to the world." 

Mr. Latrobe, in his Address before our Historical Society, already 
mentioned at page 166, speaks very fully of Mason and Dixon. His 
Paper forms a very valuable addition to our knowledge on the subject 
of this celebrated survey. — Editoe. 



AND LORD BALTIMORE. 203 

liam Penn, the illustrious and irreproachable founder of 
Pennsylvania, and the justice of the claims of his posterity, 
and rescues his name from the imputation of injustice.* 

* The failure of Lord Baltimore to establish his claim was, 
perhaps, in no small measure owing to the manner in which he 
attempted to meet the difficulties of his position. He certainly had 
bad advisers. His knowledge of the history of the country upon the 
Delaware never justified declarations to the effect — "that the Swedes 
and Dutch did not successively possess and enjoy, for many years 
after the date of the grant to Lord Baltimore, their ancient settle- 
ment on the Delaware ; that they had no such settlement there, 
being but a few of them there, and those but itinerant traders, and 
if settled and inhabited, the parts so settled and inhabited were 
very small. * * * * That the three lower counties (now the 
State of Delaware) were never held by the Dutch, as belonging to 
New Amsterdam, nor were they since 1663 in the quiet possession 
of the Duke of York, nor a dependency of the province of New York. 
And further that Governor Andross never received possession of the 
lower counties from the Dutch, nor exercised any act of government 
or ownership within said territory or any part thereof" 

All of these statements are positively opposed to history, and the 
Penns skilfully availed themselves of their advantage. The Swedes 
were in possession of the river when Stuyvesant, the Dutch Gov- 
ernor at New Amsterdam, proceeded to the Delaware, conquered 
the territory from them, and appointed a Vice-Director or Governor 
under him. The whole territory then became a dependency of New 
Amsterdam. 

In 1664, Charles II. granted to his brother, the Duke of York, a 
very considerable region in America, and which included that 
claimed by the Dutch. This was followed, in the same year, by an 
expedition under Colonel Nicholls, who seized all the Dutch posses- 
sions, and New Amsterdam became New York. The Delaware was 
in due course reduced by the English, and governed under the 
Duke's Laws, as they were called, and by magistrates appointed by 
the successive Governors who were commissioned by the Duke. 
In 1681, a letter was addressed to the magistrates upon the Dela- 
ware, by Anthony Brockholtz, Commander at New York, which, 
after reciting the grant to Penn, and thanking them for "their 
good services, &c., done during ye time they remained under hia 



204 WILLIAM PENN, ETC. 

Royal Highness' Government," &c., directed them to "yield due 
obedience to ye s^ Letters Patent." 

With respect to the question of territorial occupation and settle- 
ment, many grants were made by the Dutch Governors, and those 
of the Duke of York, particularly by Andross : for, from the Breviat, 
we find that, between the years 1614 and 1676, one hundred and 
eight grants, comprising at least forty-four thousand acres, were 
made by him in the name of the Duke, and principally within the 
three lower counties ; but, in view of Lord Baltimore's statement, 
the facts are still more remarkable, that even before Penn was born a 
church was here established, forts built, justice administered, trade 
maintained, and the soil to some extent under successful cultivation. 
— Editoe. 



ORIGINAL LETTERS 



DOCUMENTS 



KELATINO TO THE 



HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 



HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED. 



(205) 



I. OEIGINAL LETTERS, ETC. 



[The following letters are now first published from the 
originals, in the handwriting of the illustrious Founder. 
The first three were addressed by him to an ancestor of 
the President of this Society, and were found among the 
papers of that ancestor. The earliest in date is interest- 
ing, as it exhibits the modesty of Wilham Penn in his 
opposition to the name proposed to be bestowed on the 
province, and in his ascribing the appellation entirely to 
the merits of his father, without arrogating anything to 
himself The second is no less creditable to the writer, 
since it shows the liberal principles of government which 
he entertamed from the outset, but which, on accomit of 
the well-known sentiments of Charles II. and the Duke 
of York, he deemed unfit for the atmosphere of a despotic 
and profligate court. "For the matters of liberty and 
privilege," says this upright lawgiver, "I purpose that 
which is extraordinary, and to leave myself and succes- 
sors no power of doing mischief; that tlie loill of one man 
may not lander the good of an whole country: but to pub- 
lish those things now and here, as matters stand, w^ould 

(207) 



208 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

not be wise," &c. In the third letter an important and 
hitherto unnoticed fact is mentioned, viz., his refusal of a 
sum, — considerable at that time, and which to most per- 
sons would have appeared of sufficient amount, — for a 
certain number of shares in the province, with the exclu- 
sive privilege to the company of the Indian trade ; and 
if we are to understand by his expessions in the latter 
part of his letter, that his refusal of the offer was dictated 
by a desire to establish in Pennsylvania a model of free 
government, and honorable dealing with the Indians, 
"that an example and standard may be set up to the 
nations," we may see in it new evidence of his claims to 
the most profound gratitude and respect. 

The remaining letters are of much later date, and shed 
light upon an obscure part of his history. The latest in 
the series is valuable from the circumstances of its having 
been, probably, the last letter written by him to America, 
since it appears, from his memoirs, that in the month of 
May, 1712, he was attacked by an apoplectic fit, and 
shortly afterwards by a second, which disabled him from 
correspondence.] 



1. To Robert Turner. 

bth of 1st mo., 1681. 
Dear Friend: 

My true love in the Lord salutes thee, and dear friends 
that love the Lord's precious truth in those parts. Thine 
I have, and for my business here, know that after many 



AND DOCUMENTS. 209 

waitings, watcliings, solicitings, and disputes in Council, 
this day my country was confirmed to me under the Great 
Seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the 
name of Pennsilvania, a name the king would have given 
it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being as 
this, a pretty hilly country, but Penn being Welsh for a 
head, as Penmanmoire in "Wales, and Penrith in Cumber- 
land, and Penn in Buckinghamshire, the highest land in 
England, called this Pennsilvania, which is the high or 
head woodlands ; for I proposed, when the Secretary, — a 
Welshman, — refused to have it called New Wales, Syl- 
vania, and they added Penn to it; and though I much 
opposed it, and went to the king to have it struck out and 
altered, he said 'twas past, and would take it upon him ; 
nor could twenty guineas move the under-secretarys to 
vary the name, for I feared least it should be lookt on as 
a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the king, as it 
truly was, to my father, whom he often mentions with 
praise. Thou mayst communicate my graunt to friends, 
and expect shortly my proposals : 'tis a clear and just 
thing, and my God, that has given it me through many 
diflficultys, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a 
nation. I shall have a tender care to the government, 
that it will be well laid at first : no more now, but dear 
love in the truth. 

Thy true friend, 

W. PENN. 

14 



210 ORIGINAL LETTERS 



2. To THE SAME AND OTHERS. 

Westminster, 12th of 2d mo., 1681. 

Dear R. Turner, Ant. Sharp, and R. Roberts : 

My love salutes you in the abiding truth of our God, 
that is precious in all lands ; the Lord God of righteous- 
ness keep us in it, and then shall we be the dayly wittnesses 
of the comforts and refreshments that come from it, to his 
praise, that is the fountain of all good. Having pubhshed 
a paper with relation to my province in America (at least 
what I thought it adviseable to publish), I here inclose 
one, that you may know and inform others of it. I have 
been these thirteen years the servant of truth and 
Friends ; and for my testimony sake lost much, not only 
the greatness and preferments of this world, but £16,000 
of my estate, that had I not been what I am I had long 
agoe obtained ; but I murmur not ; the Lord is good to 
me, and the interest his truth has given me with his 
people may more than repaire it : For many are drawn 
forth to be concerned with me, and perhaps this way of 
satisfaction has more of the hand of God in it than a 
downright payment : this I can say, that I had an open- 
ing of joy, as to these parts, in the year 1661, at Oxford, 
twenty years since ; and as my understanding and inclin- 
ations have been much directed to observe and reprove 
mischiefs in governments, so it is now put in my power 
to settle one. For the matters of liberty and privilege, I 
purpose that which is extraordinary, and to leave myself 



AND DOCUMENTS. 211 

and successors no power of doeing mischief; that the will 
of one man may not hinder the good of an whole country ; 
but to publish those things now and here, as matters 
stand, would not be wise, and I was advised to reserve 
that till I came there. Your ancient love to me, makes 
me believe you Avill have a brotherly eye to my honest 
concern ; and what truth makes you free to do you will, 
and more I expect not : 'tis a clear, unintangled, and, I 
may say, honourable bottom, no more ; but let Friends 
know it, as you are free. With my dear love in that 
which no waters can quench, nor time make wax old, nor 
distance wear out. 

Your friend brother, 

WM. PENN. 

The inclosed was first read to Traders, Planters, and 
Shipmasters, that know those parts, and finally to the 
most eminent of Friends hereaway, and so comes forth. 
I have foreborne paint and allurement, and writt truth. 

W. P. 

There are several inhabitants on the place already able 
to yield accommodation to such as at first go ; and care is 
taken already for to look out a convenient tract of land 
for a first settlement. 

Directed — " For Robert Turner, 

At his house in Dublin." 

Endorsed — " Wilham Penn, his advise about his coun- 
try Pennsylvania — came with the printed Booke — 

" And how he is persuaded of it — and his inchnation 
thereto longe past." 



212 ORIGINAL LETTERS. 



3. To Robert Turner. 

2^th Qth mo., 1681. 
Dear Friend, 

My endeared love in the trutli of God, tliat is sweet 
and patient, long suffering, and believes and hopes to the 
end, salutes thee and thy family, with faithful friends in 
those parts. Thy remembrance by severall notes, through 
the hands of J. Hall, I tenderly received ; and though I 
ordered P. Ford to answear thy said letters, and send the 
things by thee desired, and writt and sent maps and 
accounts too, by Friend Thomas Lurting, I thought good 
to send thee d few lines. I have lately been in the west 
of England, and had a prosperous journey in the Lord's 
service. At my returne found thyne to me. The most 
materiall is about the quit-rent, &c. : Philip will be large 
to thee upon it. I am contented to sell it to a Beaver 
Skin, which is about a crown value, at ten years purchase. 
I did refuse a great temptation last second day, which was 
six thousand pounds, and pay the Indians for six shares, 
and make the purchasers a company, to have wholly to 
itself the Indian trade from south to north, between the 
Susqualianagh and Delaware rivers, paying me two and a 
half per cent, acknowledgment or rent : but as the Lord 
gave it me over all and great opposition, and that I never 
had my mind so exercised to the Lord about my outward 
substance, I would not abuse his love, nor act unworthy 
of his providence, and so defile what came to me clean. 
No, lett the Lord guide me by his wisdom, and preserve 



AND DOCUMENTS. . 213 

me to honor his name, and serve his truth and people, 
that an example and standard may be set up to the 
nations : there may be room there though none here. So 
dr. Robert take no notice of this. Thomas Lurting may 
guess the man : he knows him and spoke of him to me 
the last man upon the staires-head when he left me. No 
more at present, but that I am in the love of the Lord, 
Thy true friend, 

WM. PENN. 

Directed — " For Robert Turner, 

Merchant in Dublin in Ireland." 

Endorsed — " Wm. Penn adviseth that books or printed 
proposals, with maps, is sent by Thomas Lurttin ; about 
Pensilvania ; and that the quit-rent may be taken off at 
ten years purchase, paying yearly in a beaver skin, &c., 
also that he was offered six thousand pounds for six 
shares." 

"Thomas Lurtin says Samuel Groom spoke to "Wm. 
Penn for the land, at the request of Thurston in Mary- 
land." 



4. To James Logan. 

Londo)i, 21th M mo., 1708. 
Loving Friend, 

I shall have two opertunitys more, so only tell thee 

that Isaac Norris has two letters for thee. This is to 

cover some papers to thee to be used as occasion requires ; 

two of them being two ways of stating my case against 



214 * ORIGINAL LETTERS 

the Fords ; one an order of Council, though the original! 
must be there, directing the way of divideing the two 
provinces in King James's time, he striveing, I hope in 
vaine, to alter it. The last my case (or the Duke's rather) 
against Lord Baltimore, that will direct plainly how to 
understand my case and title. I had a letter from the 
Governor, the first in about a yeare ; one from G. Owen, 
and one from T. Fairman, with one to P. Ford, open in 
mine. So far not amiss. But not one yet from thee. T. 
Gray inclosed them from Sheels by New Castle (where 
he lyes sick) to his uncle, Charles Wright, my old ac- 
quaintance; perhaps he keeps thy packet for my own 
hand from his. Remember the mines which the governor 
makes yet a secret, even to thee and all the world, but 
himself and Michell: pray penetrate that matter, and 
lett us see the oare in as large a quantity as thou canst. 
This comes to thee by E. Jackson, and I hope an honest 
man, that may tell thee more. The Fords* insist upon 
eight, now friends are come up to seven thousand pounds ; 
'tis like to be, I hope, compromised. We are all well 
through the Lord's mercy, and salute thee ; friends here 
to-night from Bristol, P. Moore, &c. Be penetrating and 
brisk, and tell friends of Jersey, that the Lords Commis- 



* These were the executors of one Ford, his steward, who by acts 
of " fraud and treachery," (to use the words of James Logan) in- 
volved him in great pecuniary troubles, which clouded the latter 
years of his life. " He trusted (says Oldmixon, in his account of the 
British Empire) an ungrateful agent too much with the management 
of the Province ; and when he expected to have been thousands of 
pounds the better for it, found himself thousands of pounds in 
debt," &c. 



AND DOCUMENTS. 215 

sioners for trade, &c., sent me a letter about Rivell, Leeds, 
&c., if fit for their Council, and at New York, which I 
have answered to-day, I hope, to their content. 'Tis late, 
so I shall close, with dr. love to S. Carpenter, C. Pewsey, 
Gr. Owen, Rd. Hill, T. Story, R. Ellis, &c., who am 
Thy real ffrd, 

WM. PENN. 

Col. Rooth since my last has paid me twenty pounds. 



5. To THE Same. 

Reding, 21th 12th mo., 1708-9. 
Loving Friend: 

Though I have writt many ways, and I think most 

amply, and especially by Col. Gookin and Thomas Potts, 

yet haveing received thine of 7ber last, which is the last, 

I thought fit to let thee know that Michel has been with 

me, is a little clowdy, and would tell me what is good out 

of our province, and dubious of the valine of what is 

within it, as yet; but promises faire. T. Grey as yet 

cannot make himself master of the papers thou hast 

twice writt about, comeing by N. Castle-upon-Tyne, sick, 

his chest in disorder still, but is positive that one sort of 

the papers thou hast every individual of them. I'll mind 

him of it again. But Col. Evans and his company of 

Indians, both T. G. and Michell declare can make 100 

pounds, if not 2 or 3 pr. diem neat. Unlia2:)py for me 

has that falhng out been between you. But end it the 



216 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

best it may be. He writes of coming over, but let him 
be honom^able there, or he may repent it here. He is a 
Silhton if he stir and does not pursue may last offer and 
advice by Col. Gookin. I heare Ld. Lovelace is well 
arrived, I hope so is your Governor* too : make the most 
of him to friends and service. He had hints enough to 
follow theirs and thine, and was let into every secret of 
your affairs that occurred to me at his going. Give him 
measures of persons and things. He writes well, is a good 
mathematician, and I have desired him to keep a diary 
for his security, or at least prudent discharge. 

Now these five things thou hast to balance against the 
turbulent and ungrateful : 

1. That I keep my government. 

2. I have sent a new heutenant or deputy. 

3. That I have recovered the province from the vilest 
of the earth,f and that danger over. 

4. That I have sent the school charter. 

5. That Ld. Baltimore laying hold of his province's 
address for settling our boundaries, petitioned the Queen, 
in order to it, to dismiss or rej)eale the order of Council 
in her father's time, and only run the line and leave the 
Lower Countys to him as his by his grant, which he got 
referred to the Lords for trade, &c. I appeared to them, 
told them they could not be proper judges, or shake a 
definitive order or sentence of King and Council, com- 

* Charles Gookin, Esq., appointed Governor by William Penn, a 
few months previously, 
f Probably the Fords. 



AND DOCUMENTS. 217 

plained to Ld. President Sommers and Ld. Sunderland, 
Secretary of State : Tliej agreed with me, excused the 
inadvertency of the reference and concurred with me to 
petition the Queen, which I have done, setting forth the 
case, and the long quiet possession upon that determina- 
tion, and prajdng to have so ill a precedent to American 
settlements prevented, and his petition dismissed ; and so 
it was in high council. * * * * * * 

*********** 

[The rest of this letter is unfortunately missing.] 



6. To Samuel Caepenter and others. 

Ruscamb Berhs, 24 ^tli mo., 1712. 

DeARE and worthy FRIENDS: 

Haveing so faire an opertunity, and having heard from 
you h}^ the Bearer, John French, I chuse, by him, to salute 
you and yours, and all unnamed friends that you think 
worthy: for my heart loves such and heartily salutes 
them and theirs, and prays for your preservation in the 
Lord's everlasting truth to the end of time ; and the way 
of it is, to take the Lord along with you in all your enter- 
prises to give you right sight, true counsil, and a just 
temper or moderation in all things, you knowing right 
well the Lord our God is neer at hand. Now know, that 
tho I have not actually sold my Governmt. to our truly 
Good Queen, yet her able Ld. treasurer and I have agreed 



218 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

it ; and tliat affaire of the Prizes, the Bearer came hither 
abt. is part of ye Queen's payment, viz., her one-third ; 
and the other comes very opertunely, that belongs to me, 
which I hope J. Logan will take care of, in the utmost 
farthing, and remit it to me first, to whom, I suppose, 
orders will goe by this opertunity from ye treasury to yt 
effect. But I have taken effectuall care, yt all ye Laws 
and priviledges I have graunted to you, shall be observed 
by the Queen's Governors, &c. : and that we who are 
friends shall be in a more particular manner regarded 
and treated by ye Queen. So that you will not, I hope 
and believe, have a less interest in the govermt., being 
humble and discreet in our conduct, and you will finde 
all the charters and Proprietary Govermts. annexed to 
the Crown by act of Parliament next winter; and per- 
haps Col. Quarry, if not J. Moore, may happen to be 
otherwise employed, notwithstanding the politick oj)inion 
of one of my officers in that Governmt. that is still for 
gaining them which I almost think impossible. But be 
that as it will, I purpose to see you if God give me life 
this fall, but I grow ould and infirine, yet would Gladly 
see you once more before I dye, and my young sons and 
daughter also, settled upon good Tracts of Land, for them 
and theirs' after them, to clear and settle upon, as Jacob's 
sons did. I close when I tell you that I desire fervent 
prayers to the Lord for continuing my life, that I may 
see Pennsylvania once more, before I die, and that I am 
your ffaithful Loving 
friend, 

WM. PENN. 



AND DOCUMENTS. 219 

Superscription. 

For my De. ffriends, 

S. Carpenter, Ed. Shippen, Ricd. Hill, J. Norris, C. 
Peusy, S. Preston, T. Story, Gr. Owen, &c., at Philadel- 
phia in Pennsylvania. 

Pr. J. firench. 



II. THE WILL OF WILLIAM PENN WITH THE CODICILS, 

TOGETHER "WITH THE OPINION OP COUNSEL THEREON. 

[These papers, with the subjoined letters of Wiliam Penn, Junr., and 
of Simon Clement to James Logan, are printed from an old MS. in 
the possession of T. I. Wharton, Esq., said to be "taken from a 
copy belonging to the Assembly."] 

I, William Penn, Esquire, so called. Chief Proprietary 
and Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, and the 
territories thereunto belonging, being of sound mind and 
understanding, for which I bless God, do make and ordain 
this my last will and testament. My eldest son being 
well provided for by a settlement of his mother's, and my 
father's estate, I give and dispose of the rest of my estate 
in manner following. The government of the province 
of Pennsylvania and territories thereunto belonging, and 
all powers relating thereunto, I give and devise to the 
most honorable the Earl of Oxford, and Earl Mortimer, 
and to Will., Earl Pawlet, so called, and their heirs, upon 
trust to dispose thereof to the Queen or any other person 
to the best advantage and profit they can, to be appUed 
in such manner as I shall hereinafter direct. 



220 ORIGINAL LETTERS. 

I give and devise to my dear wife, Hannah Penn, and 
her father, Thomas Callowhill, and to my good friends, 
Margaret Lowther my dear sister, and to Gilbert Heath- 
cott, Physition, Samuel Waldenfield, John Field, Henry 
Goldney, all hving in England, and to my friends, Samuel 
Carpenter, Eichard Hill, Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston, 
and James Logan, living in or near Pennsylvania, and 
their heirs, all my lands, tenements, and hereditaments 
whatsoever, rents and other profits situate, lying and 
being in Pennsylvania, and the territories thereunto be- 
longing or elsewhere in America, upon trust that they 
shall sell and dispose of so much thereof as shall be 
sufficient to pay all my just debts, and from and after 
payment thereof, shall convey unto each of the three 
children of my son William Penn, Gulielma Maria, 
Springet, and William respectively, and to their respective 
heirs, ten thousand acres of land in some proper and bene- 
ficial places to be set out by my trustees aforesaid. 

All the rest of my lands and hereditaments, whatso- 
ever situate lying and being in America, I will that my 
trustees shall convey to and amongst my children, which 
I have by my present wife, in such proportions, and for 
such estates as my said wife shall think fit. But before 
such conveyances shall be made to my said children, I 
will that my said trustees shall convey to my daughter 
Aubry, whom I omitted to name before, ten thousand 
acres of my said lands in such places as my said trustees 
shall think fit. 

All my personal estate in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, 
and arrears of rent due there, I give to my said dear wife 



AND DOCUMENTS. 221 

(whom I make my sole executrix), for the equal benefit 
of her and her children. 

In testimony whereof I have set my hand and seal, to 
this my will, which I declare to be my last will, revoking 

all others formerly made by me 

* » * * » » 
WM. PENN. t SEAL. I 

* ■» « -s * » 

Signed, sealed, and published by the testator, William 
Penn, in the presence of us who set our names as wit- 
nesses thereof in the presence of the said testator after 
the interlineation of the words above, vizt. {ivJiom I make 
my sole Eocecutrix), Eobert West, Sarah West, Susanna 
Eeading, Thomas Pyle, Robert Lomax. 

This will I made when ill of a fever at London, with a 
clear understanding of what I did then. But because of 
some unworthy expressions belying God's goodness to me 
as if I knew not what I did, I do now, that I am recovered 
through God's goodness, hereby declare it is my last mil 
and testament, at Ruscomb in Berkshire this 27th of the 
3d mo. called May, 1712. 

WM. PENN. 

Witnesses present, Elizabeth Penn, Thomas Pyle, 
Thomas Penn, Elizabeth Anderson, Mary Chandler, 
Jonah Dee, Mary Dee. 

Postscript in my owti hand — As a further testimony 
of my love to my dear wife, I of my own mind give unto 
her out of the rents of America, vizt., Pennsylvania, &c., 
three hundred pounds a year for her natural life, and for 



222 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

her care and charge over my children, in their education 

of which she knows my mind, as also that I desire they 

may settle at least in good part in America, where I 

leave them so good an- interest to be for their inheritance 

from generation to generation, which the Lord preserve 

and prosper. Amen. 

WM. PENN.* 

[Here follows the Probate made 3d November, 1718.] 

* The following is copied by me from an original will of Penn, in the 
possession of the family of the late Mr. William Logan Fisher, of 
Germantown. 

It is a hologi-aph, and consists of seven folio pages, each of which is 
signed at the foot by the testator. 

This is probably the will to which Logan refers in the accompany- 
ing letter, and which was made as Penn was about to sail for Eng- 
land, never, as it proved, to return. 

EXTRACT OP A LETTER FROM JAMES LOGAN TO HANNAH PENN. 

Dated ''Philadelphia, llth, Zd mo., n2L 
"Honored Mistress:" 

" The Proprietor in a will left me at his departure hence gave all his 
negroes 'their freedom ; but this is entirely private ; however, there 
are very few left. Sam died soon after your departure hence, and 
his brother James very lately. Chevalier, by a written order from 
his master, had his liberty several years ago, so that there are none 
left but Sue, whom Letitia claims or did claim as given to her when 
she went to England, but how rightfully I know not. These things 
you can best discuss. She has several children. There are, besides, 
two old negroes quite worn, that remained of three that I recovered 
near eighteen years ago of E. Gibbs' Estate, of New Castle Co." 

[will of WILLIAM PENN.] 

"Newcastle on Delmvare, SOth 86?', ITOl 
"Because itis appointed for all men once to dye, and yt their days 
are in the hand of ye Almighty their Creator, I think fitt upon this 
present voyage to make my last will and testament, which is as 
follows. 



AND DOCUJIENTS. 223 



The Case of William Penn, Esq. 

King Charles the 2d, by his Letters Patent, dated 1680, 
grants to William Penn, Esq., his heirs and assigns, a 

Since my estate, both in England and Ireland, are either entailed 
or incumbred, my will is, that wh'"' is saleable, be sould for payment 
of my just Debts, and all my household stuff, plate, and linen, not 
given or disposed of to my children by their relations, and if there 
should be any overplus, that it goe equally between my son William 
and daughter Lcetitia, as to my estate in Europe, be it Land, 
houses, or moveables, except my gold chain and meddall, w'^'' I give 
to my son William ; and except such estate as I had with or since I 
married this wife, fifor my estate in America, it is also incumbered, 
but not with the tenth part of the true vallue thereof — I mean of 
the Province of Pennsylvania and counties annexed — when that 
incumbrance is discharged, I give my son William all my sayd 
Province and Territorys, to him and his Heirs forever as Proprietary 
and Govern. But out of or rather in the sayd soyle thereof, I give 
to my daughter, Lastitia Penn, one hundred thousand acres, seaventy 
of w"' out of or rather the sayd Province, and ten thousand acres out 
of or rather in each of the Lower Countys of the territorys. 

I also give to my son John one hundred and fifty thousand acres, 
of w'*" one hundred thousand in the Province, and fifty thousand 
acres in the Lower Countys ; and I also bequeath to him my tenth 
or Proprietary ship of Salem tenth or County, in West iS'ew Jersey, 
to my sayd son John and his heirs forever, with all rents, Proffits, 
and Interests therein. 

I also will that the Childe my De : wife, Hannah Penn, now goes 
with, shall have one hundred thousand acres if a boy, a seaventy 
thousand if a Girle, in the Province aforesd ; all which Land so given 
shall lye between Susquehanagh River and Delaware River, and to 
be taken up within twelve months after my death. If my encum- 
brances can be discharged in yt time, or so soon as they are ; but so 
as that the sayd Lands be not above = 80 = miles above a due 
west line, to be drawn from Philadelphia to Susquehanah River, and 
to be layd out in ye way of townships, and to pay to my son William 
one silver shilling for every township of five thousand acres when 
taken up forever, in lieu of all demands and services, hereby requiring 



224 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

tract of land in America, with all the islands therein con- 
tained, &c., as the same is therein described, whom he 



my sayd son William to erect all or any part of ye aforesayd Lands 
into manners, with due powers over their own Tennants, according 
to my sayd children's respective agreements with them, when they or 
any for them require the same. 

I also give to my De : Wife iive thousand acres of land as a token 
of my love, to be taken up as before exprest, and upon ye same ac- 
knowledgemt, and within ye sayd limits, in my Province of Pennsil- 
vania,* to her and her heirs and assigns forever ; and so I under- 
stand in my other afore-mentioned graunts to my children, viz., that 
I give to them and their heirs and assignes forever. I also leave my 
De : Sister and her children some token of my love, such as my wife 
shall think fit in memoriall of me. Also to her father and mother 
the like. 

1 give to my Servts, John and Mary Sach * * (the rest of this 
name is unintelligible), three hundred acres between them ; to James 
Logan one thousand acres, and my blackg their freedom, as under my 
hand already ; and to ould Sam 100 acres, to be his children's after 
he and wife are dead, forever, on common rent of one bushel of wheat 
yearly, forever, — for the performance of which I desire my loveing 
friends, Edward Shippen, Saml. Carpenter, Edward Penington, and 
James Logan, in America, or any three of them, and Benjamin Seal, 
Thomas Callowhill, Henry Goldney, Jos. Pike, in England, or any 
three of them, to see this my last will observed, and that I have 
right done me about my incumbrances, that my family suffer not by 
oppressive demands, but get me and myn righted in law and Equity. 
And I do hereby charge all my children, as their loveing dying 
father's last command and desire, that they never goe to law, but if 
any difference should arise, w'^'" I would hope will not, that they be con- 
cluded by ye Judgment of frds, to be chosen by the meeting of suffer- 
ings of ye people called Quakers, in England, for English and Irish 
concerns ; and in America, to ye ffrds of the quarterly meeting at 
Philadelphia, in Pennsilvania, for a finall decision. 

I do further ordain by this will, that what estate I here give to 
either or any of my children be never alienated from my family, for 



* Pcnn, it will be perceived, spells this title indifferently, with a y and an i.- 
Editor. 



AND DOCUMENTS. 225 

creates and constitutes true and absolute Proprietarys of 
the said county and premises, saving to his Majesty, his 
heirs and successors, their allegiance, and also the sove- 

want of heirs of their own body ; but that debt being payd, they may 
owe the rest to be inherited by ye next of blood of my Body and 
discent, and for want thereof, to my De : Sister and her Blood, in such 
manner as she shall appoint. 

And now, if ever I have done a wrong to any, I desire their for- 
giveness ; and for all ye good offices I have ever done, I give God, yt 
Enabled me, the honour and thanks ; and for all my enemies, and 
their Evil reflections and reports and endeavours to mine me in 
name and estate, I do say, ye Lord forgive them and amend them ; 
for I have ever, from a child, loved the best things and people, and 
have had a heart, I bless the name of Allmighty God, to do good, 
without gain, yea sometimes for Evill and to consume my own, to 
serve others, w'" has been my greatest burden and my infirmity: 
having a mind not only just but kinde, even to a fault, for it has 
made me sometimes hardly so just by means of debts thereby con- 
tracted, as my integrity would have made me. 

And now, for all my good friends, that have loved and helped me, 
do so still, in my poor children, w"*" you can, and God Allmighty be to 
you and yours an ample reward. You have my hearty and gratefull 
acknowledgements and commemoration, who never lived to myselfe 
from my very youth, but to you and the whole world in love and 
service. This I ordain to be (and accordingly is) my last will and 
testament, revoaking all other. 

Given under my hande and seal, the day and year above written. 

WM. PENN." 
Sealed and Delivered 
in ye presence of 
RicHD. Halliwell, 
Jos. Wood, 
Rob. Asheton, 
James Logan. 

The interlineations were my writeing, they are twelve in number, 
the pages "j********** 
(The rest of the sentence is lost). — Editor. 
15 



226 ORIGINAL LETTERS. 

reignty of the said country. To hold to the said William 
Penn, his heirs and assigns, to the only use and behoof 
of him and them forever. To be holden of his Majesty, 
his heirs and successors, Kings of England, as of their 
Castle of Windsor, in free and common Soccage by Fealty 
only, and not in Capite, or in Knights service ; yielding 
and paying two Beaver Skins yearly, and the fifth part 
of all Gold and Silver Ore, clear of all charges. Erects 
the said country into a province or seignority, by the 
name of Pensilvania. With power to the said Wilham 
Penn and his heirs, and to his and their deputies and 
lieutenants, for the good government of the said countrys, 
to ordain laws, &c., &c., by and with the advice of the 
Assembly, &c., &c. (reciting other powers.) 

The said Wilham Penn died about July, 1718, leaving 
his last will and testament, attested by six witnesses, 
viz. : 

[Here follows a true copy of the will and codicil.] 



Questions. 



1. Is the Devise of the Government of Pensilvania to 
the two trustee Earls good ; and if good, to whom doth 
the benefit of the trust belong. 

2. Is the Devise of the Lands, &c., in Pensilvania, to 
Hannah Penn and the other Trustees good. 

The devise of the government, &c., of Pensilvania, made 
by the testator, Mr. Peim, to the Earl of Oxford and Earl 



AND DOCUMENTS. 227 

Powlet, seems to be to compleat a treaty which he was at 
that time making with the Crown, whereby he was to 
have a considerable sum of money for the government ; 
and the testator seems likewise to make a particular dis- 
position of that money by his will, but it is plain he 
made none. The occasion of which may be, that the 
will was made in a hurry, and in the time of a desperate 
illness, as appears by the codicil. I am, therefore, of 
opinion, that the two Earls are trustees only for the heir 
at law, upon whom the government would devolve in case 
there had been no will. But as to the lands devised to 
the widow and her co-trustees in case the will be well 
proved, I take it to be a good devise, unless these lands 
or some quit-rents out of them be inseparably annexed to 
the government ; and then such annexed lands or quit- 
rents will go with the government. 

JO. HUNGERFORD. 
31 Jan., 1718. 



1. Is the devise of the Government of Pensilvania to 
the two trustee Earls good ; and if good, to whom doth 
the benefit of the trust belong. 

2. Is the devise of the Lands, &c., to Hannah Penn 
and other trustees good. 

I conceive the devise of the Government to the trustees 
and their heirs to be good, and the same to be in trust for 



228 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

the heir of the devisee, and that the devise of the lands 
to Hannah Penn and the other trustees is also good. 

ERA. ANNESLEY. 
29 Jan., 1718. 



Questimis. — Same as above. 

Upon perusing a copy of the Letters Patent, I am of 
opinion, that the Government thereby granted to Wm. 
Penn and his heirs, doth consist in the privileges and 
jurisdictions to them also thereby granted. 

2. That the said government, privileges and juris- 
dictions, are thereby inseparably annexed to the real and 
predial propriety of the said province and seignoritie. 

3. And wherefore, as to the will, I take it that the 
devise of the Government is void ; the testator plainly 
intending thereby to sever it from the dominion of the 
land. 

4. That for the same reason the devise of the land in 
Pensilvania to Hannah and the other trustees is also 
void ; the plain intent being to ahen the propriety dis- 
tinct and apart from the Government, which agrees not, 
as I think, with the law and such Seignories. 

5. If the devise of the Government shall be deemed 
good, yet the same being in trust to be disposed of for the 
best advantage, to be apply'd as the testator should after- 
wards by the will direct, and there being no such direction 
in the will, nor any express devise or bequest to William 
Penn, the testator's heir at law, I conceive, the said trust 



AND DOCUMENTS. 229 

descends to him, and that he ought to have the advantage 
thereof. 

G. SAVAGE. 
Uth Sept, 1718. 



III. INSTRUCTIONS FROM WILLIAM PENN, JR.; 

TO GOVERNOR KEITH. 

Instructions to William Keith, Esq., Lieutenant Governor and Com- 
mander in Chief of the Province of Pensilvania and counties of 
New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, upon Delaware. 

You are upon receiving these instructions immediately 
to call together the Council, and with them in the most 
pubhc manner make known my accession to the govern- 
ment of the said province and counties, and assure the 
country of my great affection to them, and hearty wishes 
for their welfare, and that I shall always look upon their 
interest as my own. And I believe on this occasion it 
will be proper to read the late King Charles the Second's 
Letters patent to my late father, and their proprietor, 
and his heirs, publickly to the people. However, this I 
leave wholly to yours and the Council's prudence to do 
therein as may be thought most convenient, and for the 
honor of the Government. 

I think it would be well done if the present members 
of Council be continued, for I would not have more alter- 
ations made in Government upon my accessions thereto 
than what are absolutely necessary. 

If you can procure a militia to be settled by law, slip 
not the occasion of doing it. But as that country was 



230 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

chiefly at first settled by Quakers, I would.not have them 
oppressed on any account. 

Protect the people under your care in all their Rights, 
Privileges, and Liberties my father granted them by 
charter or otherwise, or that they ought to ^- enjoy as 
Enghshmen. 

Observe the law for Hberty of conscience, which I take 
to be a fundamental one in Pensilvania; and was one 
great encouragement for the Quakers to transport them- 
selves thither, and to make it what it noAV is, for which 
they merit the favor of my family, as well as on many 
other accounts, and shall always have it when 'in my 
power ; and this I desire you will let that people know. 

But as I profess myself to be a member of the Church 
of England, therefore I recommend it to you to be careful 
of her interest, and that you encourage and protect the 
clergy, and employ where you can deserving members of 
that communion ; for I think they ought to have at least 
an equal share in the administration and pubhc offices 
with their neighbors ; and discountenance all Anti-Trini- 
tarians and Libertines. 

Protect in their possessions such Strangers as are settled 
amongst us ; for the public faith is concerned in it. 

Let the law be your guide in all cases ; and protect the 
officers of the Customs in the discharge of their duty, and 
use the advice of the Council in all cases of importance. 

Given under my hand and seal the fourteenth day of 
January, in the year of our Lord, 1718. 

WM. PENN. 

[Here follows the Commission to Governor Keith.] 



AND DOCUMENTS. 231 



IV. LETTERS FROM SIMON CLEMENTS 

(TINOLE to the widow of WILLIAM PENN) TO JAMES LOGAN. 

London, ^Oth December, 1718. 
Sir, 

Coming into the City this morning, my cousin Goldney 
tells me a Ship is just parting for New York, and that I 
should lose the opportunity of writing by her if I did not 
do it immediately. I would not, therefore, omit this 
occasion of letting you know that your letters with the 
copy of the act of ParHament came safe to my hands 
about a week since, but having sent them to my niece for 
her perusal, I am not now able to answer them in so par- 
ticular a manner as I ought, and therefore must defer it 
till the next occasion. In the meantime I am very glad 
to find that you had so prudently provided for the suc- 
cession of the government of the province before the late 
Governor's decease, as that the country can receive no 
prejudice for want of renewing the present Governor's 
commission, which has been delayed principally by reason 
of Mr. Penn's at first obstructing the proving his father's 
Will in the Prerogative Court, which, however, he has 
since consented to and 'tis done, and I have a duplicate 
of it ready, which I choose rather to send you by some 
ship that goes directly for your place than by this con- 
veyance. 

We are now also upon proving the will in Chancery, 
but there are some disputes yet subsisting between the 



232 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

young gentleman and his mother-in-law, which they have 
mutually promised shall be settled by an amicable bill in 
Chancery, and until some few points are agreed between 
them which are in agitation, he delays giving his answer 
to the bill we have brought for proving the will, but as I 
have said before, there is no appearance but that all their 
differences will be adjusted in a friendly manner; and 
my niece will take the best advice she can for putting the 
management of the propriety into such a method, as that 
the trustees may act with ease and safety ; and soon as 
conveniently, may be we shall endeavor to get the 
governor's commission renewed in due form. 

I desired you in my first letter to transmit as exact an 
account as you could of the quit-rents and other revenues 
of the proprietary, and of what debts remain unpaid, &c., 
of which you have not been pleased to take any notice in 
your answer. Wherefore I must renew my request to 
you on that head, it being highly necessary at the time 
that those matters should be well understood. But above 
all, I must pray you to let me have by the first oppor- 
tunity such an account of what the profits accruing to 
the governors (besides the gifts of the assembly) do 
amount to, (xmimunihus annis, as I may vouch and stand 
by, if there be occasion when I come to treat with the 
Ministers upon making good the contract for sale of the 
government, which I hope we may bring them to at long 
run. I am truly glad to find that your governor manages 
so much to the satisfaction of the people, and that that 
scandalous letter I hinted to you merited no more credit 



AND DOCUMENTS. 233 

than we gave it. I have no more to add at present, but 
that I am truly your assured friend and humble servant. 

SIMON CLEMENTS. 
Per the Samuel ; Samuel Holmes, ) 
Master for New York. i 



' The Same to the Same. 

London, March 6, 1718-19. 
Sir, 

The foregoing is a copy of what I writ you by way of 
New York, and I am now reviewing your two letters of 
the 1st and 4th of 9ber, that I may be more particular in 
my answer thereto than I could at that time, for want of 
having them by me. 

I am sorry to observe that the affairs of the lower 
counties he in so unsettled a posture, for which I see no 
remedy, but to wait with patience 'till we can find a 
favorable opportunity to move the Ministers to take some 
effectual resolutions for the adjusting all those depend- 
encies. In order to which, I have long since formed a 
scheme, which I hope may prove acceptable to them ; but 
their time and thoughts have been, and still continue to 
be, so much taken up in the many incidents that have 
happened in the publick affairs, that it would be in vain 
to make any application to them in these matters till 
they are more at leisure to hearken to them. In the 
meantime we have the satisfaction to see that they show 
no disposition to gratify the Scotch pretentions which 



234 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

have been suspended this long time, and they have not 
been able with all their interest to get the Attorney 
General's report read in Council, though they have had 
it above a year and a half. I am glad to hear that your 
governor had come to some good understanding, at least " 
for the present with Col. Hart, for quieting the contests 
touching the limits of Maryland. I was told that the 
young Lord Baltimore had determined to let that matter 
rest till he comes of age, and then I hope to find means 
to accommodate it with him, by the interposition of some 
friends to both sides; and the solid arguments for the 
support of my niece's interests, which you sent over some 
time since, and which I have read with a great deal of 
satisfaction, will abundantly instruct her friends in all 
that may be requisite for the management of that affair. 
I have very httle acquaintance with Col. Gookin, and 
know as little of his conversation and pretentions. But 
whatsoever his inclinations may be, I believe neither you 
nor we have anything to apprehend from what he can do. 
You fear, I perceive, that the proprietors choice of 
trustees may prove to the prejudice of his family, but you 
know that at least, at that time, they were the fittest 
that could be thought on; and though they are since 
grown a little out of fashion, the using their names on 
this occasion can give no offence to those now in play. 
Great men lay no stress on such httle things. I prepared 
a draught of a commission for those Lords to confirm 
your governor, by the authority devolved upon them, 
which I left several weeks since with Lord Oxford, to 
peruse and communicate to Lord Powlet, but I can't yet 



AND DOCUMENTS. 235 

get him to dispatch it. And you know we cannot be as 
pressing on men of their degree as we might on those of 
our own rank, but I shall continue my solicitation in it 
as I can find opportunity. 

In the meantime I am glad that your own happy pre- 
caution has prevented the inconveniences that might have 
arisen from such delays which we were not able to remedy. 
The proprietor's will may indeed be said to have been made 
in haste as you guess : but it was dictated by his friend, Mr. 
West, though the blunders committed therein could not 
have been expected from a man of his accuracy. The 
truth is that he himself had laboured under a paralitick 
afiection, from which he never recovered the use of his 
limbs one side, nor I believe at that time the strength of 
his capacity, though it were afterwards perfectly restored, 
and continued to the time of his death about six months 
since. But for the settling all things right my niece is, 
as I told you in my last, proceeding to get the Will proved 
in Chancery, and then she will be empowered to fix such 
trustees, as may efiectually act in her affairs. In the 
mean it is happy thaf the trustees of the mortgage are 
sufficiently authorized to manage all that is requisite 
there; and though I am pleased to see that you have 
made some handsome remittances towards the lessening 
that debt, yet I can't think so well of the retaining the 
one-half of the money received for the lands sold Mr. 
Dickinson, touching which I writ you in my first letter, 
though you have not been pleased to say anything of it 
in your answer. I hope, however, the persons concerned 
will consider that all the power they have to sell lands is 



236 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

from the mortgagees, and that 'tis to them they must be 
accountable for the produce, who alone, but nobody else, 
can discharge them. 'Tis plain also that the present Mr. 
"WilUam Penn can have no just pretensions to anything 
there but what had been actually settled upon him by his 
father, and certainly they must beheve that those lands 
were not, or else they would never have presumed to sell 
them. I should, therefore, think that they would find 
themselves obhged to remit the remaining part of the 
money to the mortgagees, and leave it to us to dispute 
any pretensions thereon (for which I am yet well satisfied 
there can be no ground) that may be made here and 
which can in no wise affect them. 

My niece and her son-in-law met several times whilst 
they were both in town, and mutually declared them- 
selves desirous to cultivate the former friendship in the 
family, and to submit all their differences to be decided 
by a decree in the Court of Chancery, to be obtained with 
as little expense and contest as possible, and I believe 
they will take that way at last, though the young gentle- 
man seems fickle and unconstant, and has been ready to 
fly out once or twice since, and is gone again to France 
without putting in his answer to the bill for proving the 
Will, which must, therefore, be at a stand till his return, 
which he pretends shall be in this or the next month. 
His agents talk as if he believes the Will has not 
sufficiently conveyed the power of government from him, 
and that he will send over a governor. But I should 
think either he has more discretion than to offer it in 



AND DOCUMENTS. 237 

earnest, or that he would not find anybody fool enough 
to go on such an errand ; at least I am confident that your 
governor will never yield up his authentick authority to 
any person who should come up with a sham one. 

You need not doubt but that the lower counties are as 
efiectually de\dsed as the upper, for if the word ''Terri- 
twies" should not be thought sufiicient to define, the 
addition " or elsewhere in America," cannot fail to com- 
prehend them, which you will find to be the words of the 
Will, the office copy or probate whereof Mr. Page sends 
you over to keep by you. 

I am glad to hear that the governor's good conduct has 
gained so much upon the aflection of your people, which 
was what I expected from that observation which I had 
the opportunity to make of his prudence and temper in 
that Httle of his conversation which I had the honour to 
have (which I think was but twice) ; and having now 
written to you all that present occurs to me in relation to 
my niece's afiairs, I think it would be needless for me to 
give him the trouble of a letter only with the bare 
(though true) compliment that his good management will 
always engage me to employ my best services for his 
interest. 

Your letters will always be very acceptable to me, and 
though the distance I Hve at hinders me from knowing 
the times when ships are departing, and therefore you 
may find me not to be as punctual a correspondent, yet I 
shall take the liberty to write you sometimes as matters 
may ofier for my nieces's service j and if there be any- 



238 ORIGINAL LETTERS. 

thing wherein I could be serviceable to yourself you may 
always freely conunand. 

Sir, Your assured Friend 
and very Hble Servant, 

S. CLEMENT. 

Mr. Page has given me the Probate 
of the Will ; so it comes inclosed 
herewith. 

[Here follows a copy of the Probate of the Will.] 



MEMOIRS 



HISTOKICAL SOCIETY 



PENNSYLVANIA 



(239) 



MEMOIES, ETC, 



PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE VALEDICTORY ADDRESS OF PRESI- 
DENT WASHINGTON. 

At a meeting of '^Tlw Historical Society of Pennsylvania;' 
held this 6th day of February, 1826, 

A communication was read by the President upon the 
subject of the Valedictory Address of President Wash- 
ington — 

WhereujDon, 

Resolved, That the communication of the President be 
referred to a committee, with instructions to make such 
further enquiries as they may deem expedient and find 
practicable. 

And the President, and Mr. Morgan and Mr. IngersoU, 
were appointed the committee. 

From the Minutes. 

T. M. Pettit, Eecwding Secretary. 



^6 (241) 



242 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 



Keport of the Committee. 

The committee cliarged to make such enqumes as they 
might deem expedient and find practicable in relation to 
the Valedictory Address of President Washington, beg 
leave to report — 

That in the execution of this duty they have felt all 
the interest which the subject has excited among so many 
of our fellow-citizens. Although the merits of this illus- 
trious man would be very little impaired by the discovery 
that he had made use of the hand of another to reduce 
his own thoughts and reflections to writing, yet when the 
effort appears to be to ascribe to some other the merit of 
these thoughts and the sense of the utility of their pub- 
lication, and thus to render George Washington a mere 
secondary character, a warmth of feeling among those 
who loved and revered him has been unavoidably excited, 
and may be reasonably excused. 

The committee have troubled Mr. Jay, Chief Justice 
Marshall, Judge Peters, and Judge Washington, with 
enquiries. The answers which have been kindly returned, 
with permission to make them public, must remove all 
doubts on the subject. The facts stated in Mr. Jay's 

The original manuscript of the " Farewell Address " was upon Mr. 
Claypoole's death sold at auction, in Philadelphia, by his representa- 
tives, and purchased by Mr. James Lenox, of New York, who printed 
an edition of a limited number of copies for private distribution, 
following the text as hitherto published, but noting from the manu- 
script the alterations and corrections of the illustrious author. — 
Editor. 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 243 

letter to Judge Peters well account for the mlstcike which 
has accompanied this question. The whole address 
appears to have been copied by General Hamilton, whose 
affectionate attachment to the President prevented him 
from thinking any trouble on his account too great ; and 
this coj^y having, we know not how, returned to his pos- 
session, was probably the cause of the opinion that he 
was the original author. His unexpected and lamented 
death prevents that personal denial of his asserted agency 
which we should undoubtedly have received if the report 
had been circulated during his lifetime. The national 
loss sustained in regard to both is sufficiently heavy. It 
requires not to be rendered more distressing by attempts 
to convict one of intellectual deficiency, and the other of 
confidence betrayed. 

The certificate from Mr. Claypoole, with the short con- 
firmatory note of the President of this Society, will not, 
it is conceived, be improper additions to the publication 
of the foregoing letters. 

W. RAWLE, 
BENJ'N R. MORGAN, 
C. J. INGERSOLL. 



Letter from the Committee. 
Sir, 

The interest which has lately been taken by so many 
in the question whether the Valedictory Address of the 
venerable Washington was his own composition or the 



244 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 

work of another, has extended to the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, which has appointed us to make enquiries 
on the subject. 

We take the Hberty of applying, among others, to you, 
sir, and request you to favor us with any information in 
your possession not improper for pubhcation. 
We are, &c. 
(Signed), W. RAWLE, 

BENJAMIN R. MORGAN, 
CHARLES J. INGERSOLL. 

PhUada, Feb. 10, 1826. 



A copy of the above was addressed to Judge Washington, Judge 
Peters, Chief Justice Marshall, John Jay, Esq., and Rufus 
King, Esq. 

The following answers have been received. The indisposition of 
Mr. King has probably been the cause of no answer being returned 
by him. 

Washingtm, Feb. 23, 1826. 
Gentlemen, 

In answer to your letter, requesting such information 
on the subject of the Valedictory Address which was 
pubhshed in 1796, with the signature of George Wash- 
ington, as it may be in my power to give, I beg leave to 
state that the papers bequeathed to me, so far as I have 
examined them, afford no ground whatever for attributing 
the composition of that paper to any other than the 
person whose signature it bears. I have heard that a 
claim to the authorship of it, by another person, has been 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 245 

asserted, but I am unacquainted with the precise ground 
upon which it is founded. 

I am, very respectfully, gentlemen, 

Your most obedient servant, 

BUSH. WASHINGTON. 



WasMngtcm, Feb. 22d, 1826. 
Gentlemen, 

I have been honored with your letter of the 15th inst., 

enquiring whether I have any materials to furnish, or 

testimony to afford, respecting the Valedictory Address 

of General Washington, or the doubts which have been 

raised on the subject of its authorship. 

I have no information on the claims which have been 

made for others to the composition of this address, nor do 

I know anything, except from pubhc report, which is not 

in the correspondence that was placed in my hands. I 

have seen nothing there to induce a suspicion that it was 

written by any other than its avowed author. 

With great respect, 

I am, gentlemen, your obedient, 

J. MARSHALL. 



Bedford, 2ist Feb., 1826. 
Gentlemen, 

I received on the 18th of this month the letter which 

you were pleased to address to me on the 10th inst. 

That letter suggests, that " the interest which has lately 



246 PRESIDENT Washington's 

been taken by so many in the question, whether the 
Valedictory Address of the venerable Washington was 
his own composition, or the work of another, has ex- 
tended to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which 
has appointed you a committee to make enquiries on the 
subject." You therefore request that I will favor you 
" with any information in my possession, not improper for 
pubhcation." To this request propriety requires from me 
a candid and explicit answer. 

The first intelligence I had, relative to the question to 
which you allude, was in the year 1811. In the course 
of my familiar correspondence with my worthy and ex- 
cellent friend. Judge Peters, I did on the 29 th of March, 
1811, write a letter to that gentleman, containing certain 
remarks and facts connected with that question. 

I therefore take the Hberty to refer you to Judge Peters, 
who will readily communicate to you the contents of that 
letter. Permit me to add, that should any copies be 
taken, it is my desire that they may be copies of the 
whole, and not merely of parts of the letter. 
I have the honor to be, gentlemen, 

Your most obedient servant, 

JOHN JAY. 

W. RAWLE, ^ 

Benjamin R. Morgan, v Esquires, 
C. J. Ingersoll, J 

Committee of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 247 



Belmont, Feb. 19, 1826. 
My Dear Sir, 

I tliought it most prudent to avoid encountering the 
bad weather to-day, and have ordered the Court to be 
adjourned to Friday by the Marshal. 

I will immediately write to my friend Jay, and inform 
him of your request in relation to his letters respecting 
General Washington's Farewell Address. I cannot deliver 
his letters to any one without his permission. 

It is a strange pursuit in Hamilton's family, thus to 
give trouble to everybody who regards the fame of either 
the General or Col. H. himself If he had written the 
Address, it is perfidy to betray the confidence reposed in 
him. But as he did not, it is wrong in his family to 
assert his having done it. In either case his descendants 
would gain no reputation ; but our nation would suffer a 
serious injury, by having the fascinating name of Wash- 
ington taken from the creed of every friend to his 
country. 

Yours, most affectionately, 

EICHARD PETERS. 
W. Rawle, Esq. 



Bedford, West-Chestei' County, N. York, 
M March, 1826. 
My Good Friend, 

I had the pleasure of receiving, on Saturday last, your 
letter of the 21st of February. It gratified me to learn 



248 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 

from it, that you was in excellent health, and I hope that 
a kind Providence will continue to promote your pros- 
perity. 

The communications which had occurred between you 
and the committee of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania were interesting. In a letter from them of the 
10th ult. they expressed a desire to obtain from me any 
information in my possession, not improper for publica- 
tion. I answered it on the 24th, and referred to the 
contents of my letter to you of the 24th of March, 1811. 
Should any copies be taken, I hope they will be taken in 
the whole, and not of only parts of that letter.. As to 
publication, you and those gentlemen can, with more 
facility than I can, consider and conclude on that head. 

I regret leaving so much blank paper in this letter, 
but so it is — from early in the summer to this time, my 
long-continued sickness and debility have become so in- 
creased that writing soon produces weariness. I cannot, 
however, forbear adding my assurances of the constant 
esteem, regard and attachment, with which I am, 
Dear sir. 

Your affectionate friend, 

JOHN JAY. 

The Hon. Richard Peters, Esq. 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 249 

(COPY.) 

Bedford, March 2Wi, 1811. 
Dear Sir: 

I have received your letter of the 14th ult., and also 
the book on Plaister of Paris, which you was so obliging 
as to send me, and for which accept my thanks. 

Your letter conveyed to me the jfirst and only informa/- 
tion I have received that a copy of President Washing- 
ton's Valedictory Address had been found among the 
papers of General Hamilton, and in liis handwriting ; and 
that a certain gentleman had also a copy of it, in the 
same handwriting. 

This intelligence is unpleasant and unexpected. Had 
the address been one of those official papers which, in the 
course of affairs, the Secretary of the proper department 
might have prepared, and the President have signed, 
these facts would have been unimportant ; but it was a 
l^ersonal act, of choice, not of official duty, and it was so 
connected with other obvious considerations as that he 
only could with propriety write it. In my opinion. Presi- 
dent Washington must have been sensible of this pro- 
priety, and therefore strong evidence would be necessary 
to make me believe that he \aolated it. Whether he did 
or did not, is a question which naturally directs our at- 
tention to whatever affords presumptive evidence respect- 
ing it, and leads the mind into a long train of correspond- 
ent reflections. I will give you a summary of those 
which have occurred to me ; not because I think them 



250 PRESIDENT Washington's 

necessary to settle the point in question, for the sequel 
will show that they are not, but because the occasion 
invites me to take the pleasure of reviewing and bearing 
testimony to the merits of our departed friend. 

Is it to be presumed from these facts that General 
Hamilton was the real, and the President only the reimted 
author of that address ? Although they countenance such 
a presumption, yet I think its foundation will be found 
too slight and shallow to resist that strong and full 
stream of counter-evidence which flows from the conduct 
and character of that great man : a character not blown 
up into transient splendor by the breath of adulation, but 
which, being composed of his great and memorable deeds, 
stands, and will forever stand, a glorious monument of 
human excellence. 

So prone, however, is " poor human nature" to dishke 
and depreciate the superiority of its cotemporaries, that 
when these facts come to be generally known (and gene- 
rally known they will be), many, with affected regret and 
hesitation, will infer and hint that Washington had less 
greatness of talent and less greatness of mind than his 
friends and admirers ascribed to him. Nor will the 
number of those be few, who, from personal or party 
inducements, will artfully encourage and dihgently en- 
deavor to give currency to such imputations. On the 
other hand, there are men of candor and judgment (and 
time will increase their number), who, aiming only at 
truth, will cheerfully trace and follow its footsteps, and, 
on finding, gladly embrace it. Urged by this laudable 
motive, they will attentively examine the history of his 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 251 

life ; and in it they will meet with such numerous proofs of 
his knowledge and experience of men and things in gene- 
ral, and of our national affairs in particular, as to silence 
all douljts of his ability to conceive and exjDress every 
idea in that address. A careful perusal of that history 
will convince them that the principles of policy which it 
recommends as rules for the conduct of others, are pre- 
cisely those by which he regulated his own. 

There have been in the world but two systems or 
schools of policy, — the one founded on the great prin- 
ciples of wisdom and rectitude, the other on cunning and 
its various artifices. To the first of these belonged Wash- 
ington, and all the other worthies of every country who 
ascended to the Temple of Honor through the Temple of 
Virtue. The doctrines, maxims, and precepts of this 
school have been explained and inculcated by the ablest 
writers, ancient and modern. In all civilized countries, 
they are known, though often neglected; and in free 
States, have always been publicly commended and 
taught: they crossed the Atlantic with our forefathers, 
and, in our days particularly, have not only engaged the 
time and attention of students, but have been constantly 
and eloquently displayed by able men in our Senates and 
Assemblies. What reason can there be to suppose that 
Washington did not understand those subjects ? If it be 
asked what these subjects comprehend or relate to, the 
answer is this, — they relate to the nature and duties of 
man, to his propensities and passions, his virtues and 
vices, his habits and prejudices, his real and relative 
wants and enjoj^ments, his capacities for social and 



252 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 

national happiness, and the means by which, according 
to time, place, and other existing circumstances, it is in a 
greater or less degree to be procured, preserved, and in- 
creased. From a profound investigation of these subjects, 
enlightened by experience, result all that knowledge and 
those maxims and precepts of sound policy which enable 
legislators and rulers to manage and govern public affairs 
wisely and justly. 

By what other means than the practical use of this 
knowledge, could Washington have been able to lead and 
govern an army hastily collected from various parts, and 
who brought with them to the field all the license -and all 
the habits which they had indulged at home ? Could he, 
by the force of orders and proclamations, have constrained 
them to render to him that obedience, confidence, and 
warm attachment which he soon acquired, and which, 
throughout all vicissitudes and distresses, continued con- 
stant and undiminished to the last? By what other 
means could he have been able to frustrate the designs 
of dark cabals, and the unceasing intrigues of envious 
competitors-, and the arts of the opposing enemy? By 
what other means could he have been able in so masterly 
a manner to meet and manage all those perplexing em- 
barrassments which the revolutionary substitution of a 
new government, — which the want of that power in 
Congress which they had not, and of that promptitude 
which no deliberative body can have, — which the 
frequent destitution and constant uncertainty of essen- 
tial supplies, — which the incompetency of individuals on 
whom much depended, the perfidy of others, and the mis- 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 253 

management of many, could not fail to engender ? We 
know, and history will inform posterity, that, from the 
first of his military career, he had to meet and encounter 
and surmount a rapid succession of formidable difficulties, 
even down to the time when his country was enabled, by 
the success of their arms, to obtain the honorable peace 
which terminated the war. His high and appointed 
course being then finished, he disdained the intimations 
of lawless ambition to prolong it. He disbanded the 
army under circumstances which required no common 
degree of policy or virtue; and with universal admira- 
tion and plaudits, descended joyfully and serenely into 
the shades of retirement. They who ascribe all this to 
the guidance and protection of Providence do well, but 
let them recollect that Providence seldom interposes in 
human affairs, but through the agency of human means. 

When, at a subsequent and alarming period, the nation 
found that their affairs had gone into confusion, and that 
clouds portending danger and distress were rising over 
them in every quarter, they instituted under his auspices 
a more efficient government, and unanimously committed 
the administration of it to him. Would they have done 
this without the highest confidence in his political talents 
and wisdom? Certainly not, — no novice in navigation 
was ever unanimously called upon to take the helm or 
command of a ship on the point of running aground 
among the breakers. This universal confidence would 
have proved a universal mistake, had it not been justified 
by the event. The unanimous opinion entertained and 
declared by a whole people in favor of any fellow citizen 



254 PRESIDENT Washington's 

is rarely erroneous, especially in times of alann and 
calamity. 

To delineate the course, and enumerate the measures 
which he took to arrive at success, would be to write a 
volume. The firmness and policy with which he over- 
came the obstacles placed in his way by the derangement 
of national affairs, by the devices of domestic demagogues 
and of foreign agents, as well as by the deleterious 
influences of the French Revolution, need not be par- 
ticularized. Our records, and histories, and memories, 
render it unnecessary. It is sufficient to say, and it can 
be said with truth, that his administration raised the 
nation out of confusion into order, out of degradation and 
distress into reputation and prosperity : it found us with- 
ering ; it left us flourishing. 

Is it to be believed that, after having thus led the 
nation out of a bewildered state, and guided them for 
many years from one degree of prosperity to another, he 
was not qualified, on retiring, to advise them how to pro- 
ceed and go on ? And what but this is the object and 
the burthen of his Valedictory Address ? He Avas per- 
suaded that, as the national welfare had been recovered 
and established, so it could only be preserved and prolonged 
by a continued and steady adherence to those principles 
of sound policy and impartial justice which had invari- 
ably directed his administration. 

Although the knowledge of them had been spread and 
scattered among the people, here a little, and there a 
little, yet being desirous to mark even the last day of his 
public life by some act of public utility, he addressed and 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 255 

presented them to his fellow-citizens in points of light so 
clear and strong as to make deep impressions on the 
public mind. These last parental admonitions of this 
Father of his Country were gratefully received and uni- 
versally admired ; but the experience of ages informs us, 
that it is less difficult to give good advice than, to prevail 
on men to follow it. 

Such, and so obvious is the force of the preceding con- 
siderations, as to render doubts of the President's ability 
to give the advice contained in the address too absurd to 
have many serious advocates. But it would not surprise 
me, if certain classical gentlemen, associating the facts 
you mention with the style and fashion of the address, 
should intimate that his abilit}^ to compose it substan- 
tially in his mind does not prove that he was also capable 
of communicating his advice in a paper so well written. 
Let these gentlemen recollect the classical maxim wliich 
they learned at school : 

" Scribendi recte, sapere est, et principium, et fons." 

They may also be referred to another classical maxim, 
which teaches us that they who well understand their 
subject will be at no loss for words : 

" Verbaque provisum rem non invita sequentur." 

But his ability to write well need not be proved by the 
application of maxims, it is established by facts. 

We are told to judge of a tree by its fruit ; let us in 



256 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 

like manner judge of his pen by its performances. Few 
men who had so little leisure have written so much. His 
jpuhlic letters alone are voluminous, and public opinion 
has done justice to their merits. Many of them have 
been published, and they who read them will be con- 
vinced that at the period of the address he had not to 
learn how to write well. But it may be remarked that 
the address is more highly finished than the letters, and 
so it ought to be. That address was to be presented to 
the whole nation, and on no common occasion ; it was in- 
tended for the present and future generations ; it was to 
be read in this country and in foreign countries; and to be 
criticized not only by affectionate friends and impartial 
judges, but also by envious and malignant enemies. It 
was an address which, according as it should or should 
not correspond with his exalted character and fame, would 
either justify or impeach the prevailing opinion of his 
talents or wisdom. Who, therefore, can wonder that he 
should bestow more thought, and time, and pains, on that 
address than on a letter ? 

Although in the habit of depending ultimately on his 
own judgment, yet no man was more solicitous to obtain 
and collect light on every question and measure on which 
he had to decide. He knew that authors, like parents, 
are not among the first to discover imperfections in their 
offspring, and that consideration would naturally induce 
him to imitate the example of those ancient and modern 
writers (among whom were statesmen, generals, and even 
men of consular and royal dignity), who submitted their 
compositions to the judgment of their friends before they 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 257 

put the last hand to them. Those friends would make 
notes of whatever defects they observed in the draft, and 
of the correspondent amendments which they deemed 
proper. If they found that the arrangement would be 
improved, they would advise certain transpositions; if 
the connection between any of the relative parts was 
obscure, they would make it more apparent; if a con- 
clusion had better be left to implication than expressed, 
they would strike it out, and so vice versa, if an additional 
remark or allusion would give force or light to a senti- 
ment or proposition, they would propose it; where a 
sentence was too long, they would divide it ; they would 
correct redundancies, change words less apt for words 
more apt, &c. &c. &c. To correct a composition in this 
way is to do a friendly office, but to prepare a new one, 
and offer it to the author as a substitute for his own, 
would deserve a different appellation. 

Among those to whose judgment and candor President 
Washington would commit such , an interesting and deli- 
cate task, where is the man to be found who would have 
had the hardihood to say to him in substance, though in 
terms ever so nice and courtly : " Sir, I have examined 
and considered your draft of an address — it will not do, 
it is really good for nothing, but, sir, I have taken the 
trouble to write a proper one for you, and I now make 
you a present of it. I advise you to adopt it, and to pass 
it on the world as your own ; the cheat will never be dis- 
covered, for you may depend on my secrecy. Sir, I have 
inserted in it a paragraph that will give the public a good 

17 



258 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 

opinion of your modesty. I will read it to you j it is in 
these words : 

" ' In the discharge of this trust I will only say, that I 
have with good intentions contributed towards the organ- 
ization and administration of the government, the best 
exertions of which a very faUihle judgment was capable. 
Not unconscious in the outset of the inferioiity of my 
qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still 
more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives 
to diffidence of myself" 

If it be possible to find a man among those whom he 
esteemed capable of offering to him such a present, it is 
impossible to believe that President Washington was the 
man to whom such a present would have been acceptable. 
They who knew President Washington and his various 
endowments, qualifications and virtues, know that (aggre- 
gately considered) they formed a tout ensemhle which has 
rarely been equalled, and perhaps never excelled. 

Thus much for presumptive evidence, I will now turn 
your attention to some that is direct. 

The history (if it may be so called) of the address is 
not unknown to me ; but as I came to the knowledge of 
it under implied confidence, I doubted, when I first re- 
ceived your letter, whether I ought to disclose it. On 
more mature reflection I became convinced that if Presi- 
dent Washington were now alive, and informed of the 
facts in question, he would not only authorize, but also 
desire me to reduce it to writing ; that when necessary it 
might be used to invalidate the imputations to which 
those facts give color. 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 259 

This consideration terminated my doubts. I do not 
think that a disclosure is necessary at this moment, but I 
fear such a moment will arrive. Whether I shall then 
be alive, or in capacity to give testimony is so uncertain, 
that in order to avoid the risque of either, I shall now 
reduce it to writing, and commit it to your care and dis- 
cretion, " De bene esse," as the lawyers say. 

Some time before the address appeared, Colonel (after- 
wards General) Hamilton informed me that he had re- 
ceived a letter from President Washington, and with it 
the draft of a Farewell Address, which the President had 
prepared, and on which he requested our opinion. He 
then proposed that we should fix on a day for an inter- 
view at my house on the subject. A day was accordingly 
appointed, and on that day Col. Hamilton attended. He 
observed to me in words to this effect, that after having 
read and examined the draft, it appeared to him to be 
susceptible of improvement. That he thought the easiest 
and best way was to leave the draft untouched, and in its 
fair state ; and to write the whole over with such amend- 
ments, alterations, and corrections as he thought Avere 
advisable, and that he had done so ; he then proposed to 
read it, and to make it the subject of our consideration. 
This being agreed to, he read it, and we proceeded 
deliberately to discuss and consider it, paragraph by 
paragraph, until the whole met with our mutual appro- 
bation. Some amendments were made during the inter- 
view, but none of much importance. 

Although this business had not been hastily dispatched, 
yet aware of the consequence of such a paper, I suggested 



260 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 

the giving it a further critical examination; but he 
declined it, saying he was pressed for time, and was 
anxious to return the draft to the President without 
delay. 

It afterwards occurred to me that a certain proposition 
was expressed in terms too general and unqualified; and 
I hinted it in a letter to the President. As the business 
took the course above mentioned, a recurrence to the 
draft was unnecessary, and it was not read. There was 
this advantage in the course pursued; the President's 
draft remained (as delicacy required) fair and not obscured 
by interlineations, &c. By comparing it with the paper 
sent with it, he would immediately observe the particular 
emendations and corrections that were proposed, and 
would find them standing in their intended places. Hence 
he was enabled to review, and to decide on the whole 
matter, with much greater clearness and facility than if 
he had received them in separate and detached notes, and 
with detailed references to the pages and lines, where 
they were advised to be introduced. 
With great esteem and regard, 
I am, dear sir. 

Your obedient servant, 

JOHN JAY. 

The Honorable Richard Peters, Esq. 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 261 



EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM 
JUDGE PETERS TO MR. RAWLE. 

Belmont, Feb. 26th, 1826. 
"At the head of my obituary list stands our venerated 
and beloved chief, who was always particularly communi- 
cative with me. I am certain that, in conversations, I 
have heard from his own lips, most, if not all, the lead- 
ing sentiments expressed in the Farewell Address ; though 
I do not recollect any special discussion on the subject. I 
did understand at the time that he had submitted his 
draft to some friends, but had not the exact information 
which Mr. Jay developes. In my official capacity, during 
the revolution, I have received many letters from the 
General, written by members of his family and signed by 
him. But these were all about the routine business of 
the department. Whenever there was anything of special 
confidence, he wrote the whole. With Col. Hamilton I 
have often conversed on the flying stories of the day, as 
to the great assistance he received from his family in 
composition of letters, papers, &c. Col. H. always scouted 
the idea of tJi^ir doing more than taking off the laborious 
drudgery of current business, and always gave the 
General the merit of being the unassisted writer of im- 
portant compositions and correspondence." 



262 PRESIDENT Washington's 



The committee subsequently addressed the following letter to 
Nicholas Fish, Esq., of New York. 

Sir, 

Having been appointed by the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania a committee to collect and report to them 
such evidence as may be attainable in respect to the 
original author of the Valedictory Address of President 
"Washington in 1796, we have made several enquiries on 
the subject. 

We now take the liberty of addressing you as the sur- 
viving executor of General Hamilton, and probably in 
possession of most of his papers. It has been supposed 
by some, that the address was originally composed by 
General Hamilton. Our impressions from all the inform- 
ation that we have been able to collect are to the con- 
trary. It appears to us that the original draught was 
the sole work of the President, but submitted by him to 
his friends, Mr. Jay and General Hamilton, for revision. 
But in justice to the friends of General Hamilton (and 
we beg you to consider us as having the highest respect 
for his memory), we should think it improper to make a 
report which will probably be published without a pre- 
vious en(Juiry in that quarter, where, if erroneous im- 
pressions have been received by us, they are most likely 
to be corrected. 

We therefore beg the favor of you, sir, to communicate 
any facts which you will think proj^er for publication in 
the next volume of the memoirs of the society, tending 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 263 

to show that, in your opinion, this address was not the 
original composition of the President, but of some other, 
and what person. 

We are, &c., 

W. EAWLE, 
BENJ. R. MORGAN, 
C. J. INGERSOLL. 

To Nicholas Fish, Esq. 



ANSWER. 

Neio York, May 16th, 1826. 
Gentlemen, 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter of the 6th ultimo, on the subject of General Wash- 
ington's Valedictory Address, and at the same time to 
offer you an apology for having so long delayed answer- 
ing it. 

You say it has been supposed by some that the address 
was originally composed by General Hamilton, but that 
3^our impressions, from all the information that you have 
been able to collect, are to the contrary, and that you 
should think it improper to make a report which will 
probably be published, without a previous enquiry in that 
quarter, where, if erroneous impressions have been re- 
ceived by you, they are most likely to be corrected ; that 
you therefore address me, as the surviving executor of 
General Hamilton, supposing it probable that I am in 



264 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 

possession of most of his papers, and requesting me to 
communicate any facts I may think proper for pubUcation 
in the next volume of the memoirs of the society, tending 
to show that in my opinion this was not the original com- 
position of President Washington, but of some other, and 
what person. 

None of General Hamilton's papers are in my pos- 
session, but some of his papers relating to the subject of 
your enquiry are supposed by the General's family to be 
in the hands of the Hon. Eufus King, our Minister to 
London, against whom a suit in chancery was instituted 
previous to his departure on his mission, for the recovery 
of them ; to which suit I am pro forma a party. As to 
my personal knowledge on this subject, I freely avow that 
I am not possessed of any fact tending to show that the 
original draft of Washington's Valedictory Address was 
written by any other person than himself. 

I have the honor to be, gentlemen, 
With great consideration. 

Your obedient servant, 

NICHOLAS FISH. 

To W. Rawle, >| 

Benjamin R. Morgan, V Esquires, 
C. J. Ingersoll, J 

Committee appointed by the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania to collect and report to them 
such evidence as may be attainable in respect 
to the original author of the Valedictory Ad- 
dress of President Washington in 1196. 



VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 265 

Having been requested by the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania to give an account of the circumstances 
attending the first publication of the Valedictory Address 
of the late President Washington to the people of the 
United States, I will now state them, as accurately as my 
memory enables me. 

A few days before the appearance of this memorable 
document in print, I received a message from the Presi- 
dent, by his private secretary, signifying his desire to see 
me. I waited on him at the appointed time, and found 
him sitting alone in the drawing-room. He received me 
kindly ; and, after I had paid my respects to him, desired 
me to take a seat near him, — then, addressing himself to 
me, said, that he had for some time past contemplated 
retiring from public life, and had at length concluded to 
do so at the end of the (then) present term : that he had 
some thoughts and reflections on the occasion, which he 
deemed proper to communicate to the people of the United 
States, in the form of an Address, and which he wished 
to appear in the Daily Advertiser, of which I was editor. 
He paused, and I took the opportunity of thanking him 
for having preferred that paper as the channel of his 
communication with the people, especially as I viewed 
this selection as indicating his approbation of the prin- 
ciples and manner in which the work was conducted. 
He silently assented, and asked when the publication 
could be made. I answered, that the time should be 
made perfectly convenient to himself, and the following 
Monday was fixed on : he then told me that his secretary 



266 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S 

would call on me with a copy of the Address on the next 
(Friday) morning, and I withdrew. 

After the 'proof slmet had been compared with the copy, 
and corrected by myself, I carried another proof, and then 
a revise, to be examined by the President, who made but 
few alterations from the original, except in the punctuor 
tion, in which he was very minute. 

The publication of the Address, dated " United States, 
September 17th, 1796," being completed on the 19th, I 
waited on the President with the original ; and, in pre- 
senting it to him, expressed my regret at parting with it, 
and how much I should be gratified by being permitted 
to retain it : upon which, in an obliging manner, he 
handed it back to me, saying that if I washed for it, I 
might keep it ; and I then took my leave of him. 

Any person acquainted with the handwriting of Presi- 
dent Washington, w^ould, on seeing this specimen, at once 
recognize it. And, as I had formerly been honored by 
written communications from him on public business, I 
may say that his handwriting was familiar to me ; and I 
think I could at any time and without hesitation identify 
it. The manuscript copy consists of thirty-two pages of 
quarto letter paper, sewed together as a book, and with 
many alterations ; as, in some places, whole paragraphs 
are erased and others substituted, in others many lines 
struck out, in others sentences and words erased, and 
others interlined in their stead. The tenth, eleventh, 
and sixteenth pages are almost entirely expunged, saving 
only a few lines ; and one-half of iha thirty-first page is 
also effaced. A critical examination will show that the 



VALEDICTOET ADDRESS. 267 

whole, from first to last, with all its numerous corrections, 
was the work of the same hand ; and I can confidently 
affirm, that no other pen ever touched the manuscript, 
now in my possession, than that of the great and good 
man whose signature it bears. 

D. C. CLAYPOOLE. 
PMadelpliia, Februarij 22d, 1826. 



To the foregoing statement of Mr. Claypoole (whose 
fair and honorable character is well established among 
us), I think it not improper to add, that I have carefully 
examined the manuscript from beginning to end ; and 
being well acquainted with the handwriting of this 
eminent personage, I am entirely satisfied that there is 
not a word in the text written by any other than himself. 
I had a doubt only as to the date, which did not, as it 
appeared to me, exactly correspond with the rest, but on 
further examination, I am induced to think that it is all 
in the same writing; in which opinion, Mr. Claypoole 
fully coincides. At all events, I am perfectly satisfied 
that it is not in the handwriting of General Hamilton, 
with which I am also well acquainted. The date may 
have possibly been by the private Secretarj^ of the 
President. 

W. RAWLE. 

Feb. 22cZ, 1826. 



268 



VINDICATION OF 



A VINDICATION OF THE REY. MR. HECKEWELDER'S* 
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NATIONS. 

BY WILLIAM RAWLE. 

[Bead at a Meeting of the Council, on the 15th day of February, 1826.] 

When a literary work has been in possession of public 
confidence for years ; when the author is known to have 
been a man of probity incapable of wilful deception; when 
he is known to have had the best means of information 
concerning the facts he relates, and when these facts are 
of a character not too abstruse or profound for the com- 
pass of his mind, it is natural for those who have beheved 
and rehed on his narration, to feel an interest in sup- 
porting the reputation of the author against unexpected 
and unfounded attacks. 

In the year 1819, under the auspices of the Historical 
and Literary Committee of the American Philosophical 
Society, appeared a work entitled " An Account of the 
History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations 
who once inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring 
States, by the Rev. John Heckewelder, of Bethlehem." 

Mr. Heckewelder was of German descent. He was a 
faithful and zealous member of the Moravian Brother- 
hood at Bethlehem, in this State; and under their 



* A Life of John Heckewelder, by the Rev. Edward Rondthaler, 
edited by B. H. Coates, M.D., was published in 1847.— Editor. 



heckewelder's history. 269 

direction, he exposed himself for the greatest part of his 
life to the hardships and the perils of a residence among 
the Lenapi or Delaware Indians, in an unremitted 
endeavor to convert them to Christianity. 

He was well known in Philadelphia, which, after his 
age and infirmities, combined with other circumstances, 
compelled him to relinquish the mission, he occasionally 
visited. With Doctor Wistar, who was also of German 
extraction, he was particularly intimate; but he was 
known to almost all the men of letters in our city, and 
respected by them all. In his demeanor, he was modest 
and unassuming. From his long residence among the 
Indians, he seemed to have imbibed something of their 
manners : courteous and easy in his intercourse with 
every one, a stranger to all affectation and artificial cere- 
mony, somewhat inclined to taciturnity, or at least never 
obtruding himself on the notice of others, or seeking to 
lead the conversation, those who personally knew him 
were the more inclined to give credit to his book ; and 
those who read his book before they personally knew 
him, found that the man corresponded with the character 
of which the book gave them the idea. 

The work was received with general approbation. It 
was evidently written to support no party, to explain no 
peculiar system, to promote no personal views : he had 
formed the narrative for his own private amusement or 
use, and his consent to appear as an author, both of this 
and of a subsequent publication, was not given without 
reluctance. 

He presented to us some new views of the Indian 



270 VINDICATION OP 

character. He impressed us with the behef that these 
people were still more acute, more politic, and, in some 
respects, more refined, than had been generally under- 
stood. 

But the whole account of them was conveyed in a 
manner so plain and unaffected, with such evident 
candor and apparent accuracy, that conviction generally 
if not universally followed perusal. To enumerate all 
those persons on whom this impression was made would 
be tedious. It would not, perhaps, be deemed fair to 
mention names, however respectable, from whom only 
colloquial testimony has been received; but when we 
find in print such authorities as Wistar, Duponceau, and 
Dr. Jarvis, of New York, all of one sentiment in regard 
to it, we may justly consider him as proudly supported. 
To these we add the North American Review, the anony- 
mous authors of which, as those of all similar works, stand 
before the pubhc on the ground of their own strength of 
mind, soundness of judgment, and purity of taste. Under- 
taking to instruct the world as to the reception which it 
ought to afford to the labors of others, they are, as they 
ought to be, cautious iii bestowing commendation, and a 
work highly extolled must be understood to have been 
thoroughly examined and fully approved. 

The encomiastic strains employed by these gentlemen 
on the work in question, were not beyond its merits, but 
they were certainly warm. 

After giving an analysis and various extracts, the 
Reviewers proceeded as follows : 

"The work abounds in facts and anecdotes calculated, 



hecke-welder's history. 271 

not merely to entertain the reader, but to lay open, in 
the most authentic and satlsfactoi-y manner, the character 
and condition of this people. There is no other luorJc 
extant, in which this design has been so extensively 
adopted, or in which the object is ^o fully accomplisliedr 

With these testimonials, the work of Heckewelder has 
glided down the historical current of time without any 
impeachment of its merits, till its author has been re- 
moved to a world from which he can wield no weapon of 
defence against sublunary criticism. 

Were he still hving, he would read with surprise the 
altered language of the same literary dictators, the same 
guides and directors of our taste and judgment, our appro- 
bation or rejection. 

The unqualified condemnation, in 1826, of a work so 
highly extolled in 1819, would be productive of little 
other injury than that which the authors of the Review 
would sustain by the diminution of their own authority 
from the exhibition of their own inconsistency ; but mul- 
titudes will read the Review of the present year to whom 
that of 1819 is, and perhaps ever will be, unknown. The 
American pul^lic will, perhaps, be considered by them as 
the credulous subjects of gross imposition, and perhaps 
the name of John Heckewelder be ranged with that of 
John D. Hunter. 

It will not, therefore, be improper in one who knew 
and esteemed Mr. Heckewelder when living, and with 
unabated confidence still highly values his work, to take 
a short view of the late attempt to strip him of his 
fame. 



272 VINDICATION OF 

In the North American Revieio for January last is a long 
and labored article, under the general head of " Indians 
of North America," and the two works, ih^ titles of which 
are, in the usual manner, prefixed, are Hunter's book, pub- 
hshed here about two years ago, and a recent composition 
of a Mr. Halkett, in London. On the latter, very little 
attention is bestowed : Hunter's imposition is exposed, as 
it seems to deserve. But Mr. Heckewelder's work, 
although the reader is not led, from the title of the 
article, to expect it will be noticed at all, forms the chief 
subject of much positive contradiction and much severe 
animadversion, although, at the same time, the Re^viewers 
refer, without explanation or apology, to their own laudar 
tory notices in 1819. 

Heckewelder is now represented as a man of "moderate 
intellect, and still more moderate attainments." We are 
told that his knowledge of the Indian character was 
wholly derived from the Delawares ; that their legendary 
stories were received by him in perfect good faith, and 
" recorded with all the gravity of history." 

"His naivete" is said to be "truly amusing; yet, with 
much valuable information, no work that has appeared 
for half a century, has produced more erroneous impres- 
sions on this subject. He looks back to a sort of golden 
age of the Delawares. It may have been so, but there is 
not the slightest reason to believe it. 

"Many of his assertions and conclusions are utterly 
irreconcilable with the most authentic accounts and with 
well-known circumstances. His history, if true, would 
unhinge all our knowledge on these subjects, and destroy 



heckewelder's history. 273 

all our confidence in the early French writers, who wrote 
under favorable circumstances for observation." 

This is but a part of the remarks which are made in 
the usual positive manner of Eeviewers, exercising their 
supposed unlimited sovereignty over what we sometimes 
affect to call the republic of letters. 

It is obvious that if this is the genuine character of 
Mr. Heckewelder's work, we have been greatly imposed 
on ; and if all our knowledge is " unhinged" by his faulty 
productions, the world cannot be too soon informed of its 
error. But general assertions will not alwa^^s produce 
conviction, — and we naturally expect that specific 
examples, supported by reasonable proof, shall be ad- 
duced, before we withdraw our reliance on a work which 
has so long been received as credible and authentic. 

It is indeed the more necessary when the opponent 
himself falls into a looseness of expression which is no- 
where exceeded by him whom he condemns, and when 
he weakens or destroys his own argument by the illustra- 
tion with which he endeavors to support it. Thus, in 
the last paragraph quoted, the Reviewers at first general- 
ize, then connect their observation with a particular case, 
and afterwards show that this illustration of it is of no 
value. 

We had previously been told, in the same article, that 
an actual residence among the Indians was the only 
means of obtaining a competent knowledge of their char- 
acter. Mr. Heckewelder's long residence among them is 
distinctly noticed, and of course he had the power of 
obtaining a more perfect knowledge of them than could 

18 



274 VINDICATION OF 

be acquired by casual travellers. If their accounts differ 
from his, there is therefore no reason for giving the pre- 
ference to them; and the Reviewers seem particularly 
injudicious in proceeding to mention the name of La 
Hontan, whom, at the same time, they described as un- 
worthy of credit, and of course as rendering it no loss to 
us if his " fables" should be superseded by the plain nar- 
rative of Heckewelder. In another place, they condemn 
the early and principal French writers in a mass, except- 
ing only Charlevoix. We are told that they were " credu- 
lous men, who possessed neither enlarged views nor sound 
judgment." 

The Reviewers proceed to consider some of the most 
"prominent errors" of our venerable author; and they 
deserve our thanks for enabling us thus to examine those 
imputations which, while wrapped up in general terms, it 
would not be in our power to understand or refute. 

In the consideration of them, the order in which they 
are presented will, as much as possible, be adhered to, 
although their relative importance might require a differ- 
ent arrangement. In the first place, an objection is raised 
against the orthography ; and in the next place, against 
the translation of the ancient national appellation of the 
Delawares. Mr. Heckewelder has erred in writing Lemii 
Lenapl: it should be Lennee Lenaiipey accentuating the 
last sylable with a strong expiration of the breath, which 
has no exact representative in the Enghsli alphabet. If 
this latter is the case, it is not very reasonable to con- 
demn a man for not doing what is impossible. In respect 
to the mode of spelling these two words, Mr. Heckewelder 



heckewelder's history. 275 

has much authority on his side ; but the variation is too 
minute to form a proper subject of reprehension. 

The translation of these words is more interesting. 
That given by Mr. Heckewelder corresponds with the 
lofty notions entertained by the savage of the source 
from which he sprung. Lenni, he tells us, signifies man,' 
and Jenapi means original ; but the Reviewers inform us 
that the more general and proper sense of "lennee" is 
male, although in a restricted sense, it may signify man, 
and that "lenaupe" means common, — so that, according 
to them, these words, when used together, import common, 
male; according to Mr. Heckewelder, they signify original 
man. On which side the inaccuracy lies, would probably 
soon be decided by the Delawares themselves, and the 
subject merits no further notice.* 

3. An objection is next made to Mr. Hecke welder's 
relation, that the Delawares bore, in respect to other 
tribes, the designation of grandfathers, supporting in 
some degree their claim to an ancient and extensive 
superiority. The Reviewers deny his inference, but, 
mth an air of mystery, observe that a " full consideration 
of the subject might lead to important conclusions." Mr. 
Heckewelder speaks with modesty and reserve, and it 
would be difficult to adopt any other reason for this 
figurative language than that which he assigns. We are 
all acquainted with the constant practice of the Indians 

* The confusion of ideas on this subject imputed to Mr. Hecke- 
welder, in a note at p. 68, cannot be perceived by the writer of this 
article on examining the passages referred to, but it would require 
too much time to go through them. 



276 YINDICATIOX OF 

to apply the epithet ^-Father/' to the President of the 
United States, as they formerly did to the King of Great 
Britain ; always indicating political superioritj' by a do- 
mestic phrase; and the apphcation of a higher cognate 
term among themselves, in those early days to which it 
•is traced, may reasonably be supposed to have signified 
a still higher political relation. The fact itself does not 
seem to be contradicted hy the Reviewers. 

4. The account of the ancient Lenapi conquering the 
Allegewi is, in the next place, objected to ; but, whether 
true or false, Heckewelder, who expressly relates it as a 
tradition of the Lenapi, is not responsible. And a general 
remark may here be introduced, that the author who ^Dro- 
fesses to give an accoimt of the history of a nation among 
whom he has resided, would perform his task imperfectly 
if he disregarded their own traditions. The ancient his- 
tory of every part of Europe depends on such traditions, 
the probable truth of which is sometimes supported by 
circumstances that are subsequently authenticated. In 
the Lenapian history of the total extirpation of the Alle- 
gewi, we see nothing inconsistent with the well-known 
ferocity of savage tribes, which still unhappily continues 
to rage among them. 

5. In the trifling discussion on the etymology of the 
word Mississippi, the Re^-iewers may be right ; and if the 
Chippewas were really the godfathers of that majestic 
stream, the conjunction of the terms me-see great, and se€j)ee 
river, is more natui'al than that in which Mr. Heckewel- 
der was instructed by his Delaware friends. 

6. The ancient fortifications are attributed by Hecke- 



heckettelder's history. 277 

welder to the Allegewi. The RevieTvers say no, — tL j 
forefathers of the present Indians erected them ; and they 
gravely quote Dr. Clark to show that there were fortifica- 
tions in Greece. We will ventiure to remark, that neither 
Heckewelder nor the Reviewers could know an}i:hing 
about the matter, and one had as good a right to 
speculate as the other. 

7. The •' puerile" history of the former power of the 
Delawares, and the manner in which the sceptre departed 
from them, is severely ridiculed. Now it is an Indian 
tradition, and as such it is given by Heckewelder, that 
the Ii'oquois, -vvith the assistance of the Dutch, by a gTeat 
refinement in policy, and with considerable difficulty, 
persuaded the Delawares to "'put on the petticoat and 
become women ;" that is, to lay aside the practice of arms, 
and, confining themselves to the arts of peace, become the 
arbiters of the surroimding tribes. To this, it is said, the 
Iroquois were induced by a fear of the niunbers and 
power of the Delawares; and, while they thus neutral- 
ized this formidable nation, the Iroquois were not only 
free from apprehensions for their own safety, but were 
left at liberty to pursue their mihtary expeditions against 
other powers. The Iroquois, on the contrary, contended 
that they reduced the Delawares to this condition by 
force of arms ; and one thing only is certain, that imtil a 
very late period, the Iroquois asserted certain rights over 
the Delawares, even so far as to restrain them from 
ahenating their lands. Their insolent abuse of this supe- 
riority was strongly manifested at the treaty of Philadel- 
phia, in 1742. But Heckewelder is supported in his 



278 VINDICATION OF 

account by the Rev. Mr. Loskiel ; and lie also appears to 
have conversed ^vith some of the Iroquois on the subject. 
K the tradition of the Delawares is correct, it is certainly 
an extraordinary instance of a nation's voluntarily part- 
ing with the means of self-defence for the purpose of 
becoming mediators and arbiters between the other 
nations. But the loss of military power would have 
been compensated, as they represented, by their own 
increase and internal happiness, had it not been for the 
constant encroachments of the white people. It is now 
of little consequence. The melancholy and degraded 
remnants of both the Iroquois and the Delawares, with- 
out power or permanence, by referring to the memory of 
the past, only embitter the present, and vainly seek in 
traditions a consolation for the absence of almost every 
substantial happiness. 

8. Much severity is employed on the relation given by 
Heckewelder of a conversation between Colonel Crawford, 
a prisoner about to be executed, and Wingenund, a chief 
of the Delawares, whom Crawford had sent for, in hopes 
of obtaining mercy through his intercession. No white 
man, say the Reviewers, could have been present at this 
conversation ; and therefore the inference is, that it was 
merely a creature of Heckewelder's imagination : indeed, 
they say expressly that it is " wholly apocryphal." 

Now, if the book were quoted with the least degree of 
candor, the reader would perceive that Mr. Heckewelder 
does not pretend to have been present on the occasion, 
but informs us that the particulars of this conversation 
were communicated to him by Wingenund and others. 



heckewelder's history. 279 

If he falsified the relation he received, no terms of repro- 
bation would be too strong ; but a gratuitous imputation 
of so much depravity cannot be approved. 

In the disposition to cavil at almost everything related 
by our author, the Keviewers find fault with another part 
of this conversation. "Had you attended," says Wi7ige- 
nund, " to the Indian principle, that good and evil cannot 
dwell together in the same heart," &c. This principle is 
declared by the Reviewers to be new to them. " It would 
be difficult," they say, " to find it either speculatively or 
practically in any other place than the Delaware school 
of ethics." They ought to have recollected that the 
question is not whether the philosophy was sound, but 
whether the information given to Heckewelder was truly 
reported by him. 

It seems an indirect attempt to diminish his weight of 
character, and it does not merit approbation. 

9. In the same disposition to condemn, insinuations of 
at least a want of precision are, in a subsequent passage, 
thrown out against this worthy man, to support which a 
part of a sentence is quoted. That an Indian should say, 
" I am a sort of a chief," is supposed to be impossible ; but 
the residue of the sentence is omitted, in which the 
Indian obseryes, that he is neither a great chief nor a 
very small one. That there are gradations of power and 
distinction among them, is well knoAvn. 

10. Another remark of the same Indian is quoted with 
the same skepticism by the Reviewers. It is the enumer- 
ation of articles which a successful hunt would have 
enabled the Lidian to procure for his wife ; and, although 



280 VINDICATION OF 

they do not constitute the common food of those people, 
we may reasonably suppose that in the vicinity of mis- 
sionary settlements such articles were known and accept- 
able to the females.* In their concluding objection, the 
Reviewers are equally unsuccessful, if they mean to im- 
pugn the veracity of Heckewelder. They contradict the 
account given of Tar-he, or the Crane, murdering an 
Indian of the name of Leatherlips : but Heckewelder 
does not relate the fact as of his own knowledge; he 
transcribes a letter by which the account was conveyed 
to him. 

In respect to the philological talents of Mr. Heckewel- 
der, it is not intended at present to enter into any discus- 
sion. The writer of these remarks has never felt an 
inchnation to study evanescent forms, or to keep alive 
a variety of languages, which, from every motive of 
national and beneficent policy, he would wish to see 
absorbed in one general tongue. The tribe whose 
peculiar and extraordinary dialect rivets the attention 
of the philologist, moulders into nothing before he 
becomes master of its language; and the vocabulary 
laboriously collected, and the grammar scientifically de- 
rived from it, in a few years remain the only certain 
evidence of its former existence. Yet the study is in 
itself one of high interest to those who delight to trace 
the powers and operations of the mind, and it is not in- 
tended to detract in the smallest degree from the ardor 

* In Mr. Schoolcraft's journal of his travels, it appears that he 
and Governor Cass partook of a breakfast at an Indian wigvi^am, 
among the articles composing which were bread and tea. 



heckewelder's history. 281 

of their pursuits. On the present occasion, it will only 
be observed that, in 1819, the Reviewers applauded "the 
ingenious and useful labors" of Heckewelder in these in- 
vestigations ; and, in 1826, he is styled "negligent and 
inaccurate." On this subject, Mr. Schoolcraft, whose 
work is mentioned with approbation by the Reviewers, 
may also be referred to. His words are, " The inquiries 
into the Indian languages, under the directions of Mr. 
Heckewelder, evince more severity of research than had 
before his time been bestowed upon the subject; but the 
observations of this pious and worthy missionary have 
only opened the door of inquiry." 

These remarks have, perhaps, been sufficiently ex- 
tended for the mere purposes of vindication. If it has 
been shown, that in many instances Heckewelder has 
been unfairly quoted and unjustly condemned, we are 
entitled to ask for further evidence of his errors, before 
we assent to the total rejection of his book from the 
catalogue of our standard authorities. 

But it is not unreasonable to inquire, whether those 
who have spared another so little, have entitled them- 
selves, by their own consistency and precision, to the 
exercise of an office so high and so severe. Whoever 
reads the whole of this part of the Review, cannot fail to 
perceive in it a constant attempt at original and profomid 
reflection, not always successful; theories that are con- 
tradicted or abandoned almost as soon as they are formed, 
and modes of ratiocination which frequently refute them- 
selves. We are assured by the Reviewers, that we are 
about as ignorant of the moral character and feehngs of 



282 VINDICATION OF 

the Indians, as when Jacques Cartier first ascended the 
St. Lawrence. The confession is commendable, if it were 
correct ; but he who undertakes to assert that the mass 
of information of which we are possessed is not to be de- 
pended on, ought to satisfy us that he has acquired that 
exact and superior knowledge which can alone enable 
him thus to pronounce upon the imperfections of ours. 

It is positively asserted that the Indians "have no 
government ;" but this is explained by saying that they 
have none whose operation is felt either in rewards or 
punishments, and yet the Keviewers add that their lives 
and property are protected. By what means, unless by 
some power of government, can this protection be system- 
atically afforded? Their "political relations" among 
themselves, and with other tribes, are said to be duly 
preserved. How can they be preserved unless by means 
of laws, not the less obligatory because not reduced to 
writing.* 

The submission of an Indian who has been guilty of 
murder to the retributive stroke of a relation of the de- 
ceased is, by an interrogative mode of reasoning, referred 
to some unknown principle, equally efficacious with the 
two great motives of hope and fear, "upon which all 
other governments have heretofore rested." Without 
pausing to consider the meaning of the word "other," 
which no accurate writer would make use of, unless the 
Indians also had a government, we may distinctly account* 

* In page 63 of the Review, we are told that the Indians have 
laws regulating marriage. It would be strange if they had laws on 
no other subject. 



heckewelder's history. 283 

for tlie course pursued on such occasions by referring to 
the ancient history of European nations, where similar 
procedures were established as the regular course of penal 
law. They prevailed in Greece, in the time of Homer ; 
in Germany, when Tacitus wrote his annals ; in England, 
Wales, and Ireland; and although now generally abol- 
ished, it is well known that in England they still con- 
tinue, in certain cases, under some legal restrictions. 

The Indian, therefore, who submits to this mode of 
vindictive punishment, submits to the laws of his 
country ; and if he neither " flees nor resists," it is 
because both would be alike disgraceful and una- 
vailing. 

But these retaliative criticisms need not to be further 
pursued, although perhaps some addition to them might 
fairly be made. The detection of errors in reasoning, or 
inaccuracies in diction, on the part of the Reviewers, 
will not redeem the faults of Mr. Heckewelder ; yet it is 
not unpardonable to have shown that those who are so 
liberal of censure, are not, themselves, free from imperfec- 
tion. The authority of a sentence is somewhat impaired, 
when we perceive that the judge partakes of the same 
delinquency. 

The author of these strictures, seeing no reason to alter 
the opinions of Mr. Heckewelder's merits, which he 
avoAved in the Inaugural Address, has felt it a duty to 
endeavor to support them ; but he hopes that he will not 
be thought to have evinced more asperity than the occa- 
sion justifies. The merit of the North American Review is 
fully admitted. It generally contains much valuable in- 



284 VINDICATION, ETC. 

formation and sound remark : it supports our literary 
reputation abroad, and largely contributes to the dissem- 
ination of polite learning at home ; but, in the present 
article, the Eeviewers seem to have forgotten their own 
habits, and it may also be said, their own established 
character. The rumor by which it is attributed to a 
person in office under the United States, may not be 
unfounded ; but, on rumor only, his name could not be 
introduced without impropriety ; and no other course is 
open to general readers, than to consider the publication 
as an adoption, by the editors, of all which the article 
contains. 



AN 

ACCOUNT 

OF THK 

FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWNSHIPS 

OF 

BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY, 

IN 

BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, 

WITH REMARKS ON 

THE ADVANCE OF IMPROVEMENTS IN AGRICULTURE, ETC. 



THE STATE OP MANNERS IN SOCIETY AT DIFFERENT PERIODS ; INTERSPERSED 

WITH NAMES OF THE FIRST SETTLERS, REMARKABLE 

OCCURRENCES, ANECDOTES, ETC. 

THE WHOLE INTENDED AS A CHARACTERISTIC COMPARISON OF ONE ERA 

WITH ANOTHER, AND TO PRESERVE SOME KNOWLEDGE OF 

OUR FOREFATHERS, IN THEIR PROGRESS IN SETTLING 

AND IMPROVING A WILDERNESS COUNTRY. 



BY Dr. JOHN WATSON. 



Communicated hy 3Ir. Isaac Comly, of Byherry, Bucks County, 
at a Meeting of the Council, on the 19<7i of April, 1826. 

(285) 



FIRST SETTLEMENT 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBTJRY, 



The townsliip of Buckingham, situate near the centre 
of the County of Bucks, is the largest township in the 
county, containing 18,488 acres. 

Solebury hes between Buckingham and the river Delor 
ware, and contains 14,073 acres. 

The whole of the two townships in early time was 
called Buckingham, being a favorite name with our first 
worthy proprietor, William Penn. The name was first 
given to the township and borough now called Bristol, 

but transferred here perhaps about thQ year , before 

Cutler's resurvey ; by which it appears, that the two 
townships were divided by a northwest line from the 
lower corner of Thomas and John Bye's tract, extending 
to the upper corner of Randal Blackshire's tract. 

John Cutler,* in the draught from which the preceding 

* John Cutler, with his brother, Edmund Cutler, and Isabella, his 
wife, arrived in the Ship " Rebecka, of Liverpoole," the 31st of 8th 

(287) 



288 watson's account of 

is taken, has noted that four perches in breadth were left 
between the opposite surveys, for a pubhc street or road, 
being on the northeast of the township of Buckingham, 
and on the southwest of the township of Solebury. It 
appears probable that it was designed that every pur- 
chaser should have the advantage of a road on one side 
of his survey ; and therefore they were laid out answer- 
ing to each other, about three hundred and twenty 
perches in width on each side of the township line, and 
one range further in Solebury. 

It appears, by an enumeration of the inhabitants taken 
in 1787, that Buckingham contained 173 dwelling-houses, 
188 out-houses, 1173 white inhabitants, and 13 blacks. 
Solebury, 166 dwelling-houses, 150 out-houses, 928 white 
inhabitants, and no blacks. 

In the township of Buckingham, a fine stream of water, 
arising from numerous small springs in the gritland above 
York Road ; and some larger supplies, from the limestone 
land below, unites its several branches, and, running 
through the southwest end of Wrightstown, falls into the 
Neshamony. The Indian name of this stream was. Lahas- 



mouth, 1685, They were from "Slaieburn in Bowland, Yorkshire,''^ 
England. 

John does not appear to have been married at the time of his 
arrival. 

The children of Edmund were Elizabeth, born the 14th, 3d mo., 
1G80,— Thomas, IGth, 9th mo., 1681,— William, 16th, 10th mo., 1682. 
(Bucks County Registry of Arrivals, Doylestown.) 

Slaitburn or Slandburn (York W. R.), not far from Barnesley, 
anciently belonged to the Lacies, Es. of Lincoln, &c., &c.— "Eng- 
land's Gazeteer," London, 1^51.— Editor. 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 289 

kekee or Laliaskeek. The white people called it Kan- 
dall's Run ; and a south branch, Roberts' Run. 

Two rock}^ ridges of the same Indian name run parallel 
to each other, and about eighty perches apart, on the 
southwest side of the creek. Between these hills and the 
stream, there is a piece of fine land, of a soil black, light, 
and sandy, which probably was once an Indian settle- 
ment. In 1769, a white-oak tree was cut on this land, 
in which there were several large marks of an axe ; which 
showed by the years' growths, that it had been done near 
fifty years before the grant of the province to William 
Penn. I have seen the form of a hawk or eac;le cut in 
the bark of a white-oak by the Indians not far distant. 

The stone on these hills is a kind of hard sandy flint, 
and a bed of limestone deep underneath. 

The same ridge rises again about eighty perches on the 
southeast of the creek, and extends nearly northeast, in- 
clining to the east, three miles, to near Buckingham line. 
This hill is much higher than the others ; the stone and 
soil the same, and the Indian name the same. After a 
small interval of about eighty perches, broken and irregu- 
lar hills continue to the river, winding in their direction 
rather more eastwardly, and of an entirely different kind 
of stone, being a hard ochre or bluish rock, inclining to a 
round form, but very unshapely for building. On the 
southeast side of these hills rise those fine springs of 
water that form the source of Pidcock's Creek. 

James Letch, who formerly travelled on foot to Long 
Island, traced this chain of broken hills throughout his 

19 



290 watson's account of 

journey ; and it is remarkable that tliej form the first 
rocky ridge from the seashore. 

A certain Doctor Bowman, being of a contemjDlative 
turn of mind, in the early settlement, used to frequent 
the fine round top of one of these hills near the river j 
and, at his request, he was buried there. It is since been 
called Bowman's Hill. Many others have been buried 
at the same place. Bowman's Hill is directly opposite to 
another on the Jersey shore called Belmount, of the same 
height, form, and direction; and they ajDpear to have 
been separated by the river Delaware. This appears 
evident at a distant observation, and is fully confirmed 
by examining the ends of the hills. 

The broken hills near the river, in the upper end of 
Solebury, are cut into deep winding hollows by streams 
of water. In these banks, and around in the neighbor- 
hood, are great abundance of good building stone, split- 
ting and dressing well, of a finer or coarser grained grit, 
and of different colors. Some are a mixture of coarse 
sand and pebbles. All these kinds of stone, on a some- 
what sandy soil, are common in the upper part of both 
townships. 

In the hills near Howell's Ferry, and thence in a south- 
westerly direction, through Solebury and jDart of Bucking- 
ham, rocks are found, very suitable for rough millstones 
and other uses of that kind. A narrow vein of limestone 
begins in Buckingham, back of the Lahaskekee Hill, and 
runs parallel with it, and probably under it, to the north- 
east end of Buckingham line, and then becomes wider in 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURT. 291 

Solebuiy, and divides, interspersed with other soils, to 
the river. In the lower part of Buckingham, the soil is a 
loam, blue clay, or shell on a shell bottom, pretty level 
and wet. Solebury is generally hilly, with a great 
variety of different soils and stones, well supplied for the 
most part with springs of good water, except on a piece 
of barrens, where there are no springs nor running water. 
This land, with proper management of late years, has pro- 
duced good crops of grain and grass. 

A very large spring rises in Solebury, called by the 
natives Aquetong, and by the white people Ingham's, or 
the Great Spring. The water flows out in a cove or 
hollow; the stone on the southeast being a solid red- 
shell, while those on the northwest are limestone. It is 
remarkably clear and cold in summer, and seldom freezes 
in winter. The quantity is supposed sufficient, with 
eighteen or twenty feet fall, to turn two grist-mills almost 
uniformly throughout the year ; and there are five good 
sites for mill-works on the stream to where it falls into 
the Delaware, at Newhope or Corj^ell's Ferry, a distance 
of about three miles. It is employed, at the present time, 
for one paper-mill, one fulling-mill, two merchant-mills, 
four saw-mills, and an oil-mill. 

There has been an inquiry concerning the source from 
which so great a quantity of water is so regularly sup- 
plied. Perhaps the most probable conjecture is, that 
throughout all or most part of the limestone vein, for 
eight or nine miles to the southwest, there are large 
cavities formed by the decaying of the stones ; and these, 
in some places, having openings which admit fresh and 



292 watson's account of 

moist air, the extensive cold stone surface acting like a 
vast still, is continually dropping and running down the 
sides, and affording a fresh supply of water. To this 
may be added the water collected in ponds and limestone 
sinks, which are numerous. 

The water may be collected in several subterraneous 
reservoirs or ponds, and, pouring down from the higher 
into the lower, and being confined by a vein of red-shell 
or some other kind of hard stone or earth, may at length 
flow out in one place. 

To confirm this oj)inion, it is remarked that the water 
in four or five wells on T. Bye's tract, and in a sink near 
them, is on an exact level, and that they rise and fall 
together. But some difficulty arises to account for this 
rising and falling of the water, if there be a free vent for 
its discharge. 

Isaac Pillars' spring discharges a lively stream, but in 
dry summers falls several feet, and when there are but a 
few gallons in the bottom, it cannot be emptied by lading 
out, which shows that it is supplied by a large body of 
water under ground. 

Large's pond, on the York Road, appears to have been 
one of these limestone sinks. The area is about half an 
acre. The water never rises above a certain height, and 
falls in a dry summer ten or twelve feet, but is never 
quite dry. 

A little below Coryell's Ferry, now called Newhope, 
the Delaware is confined between two hills. This place 
is called the Narrows, and the river is said to fall seven 
or eight feet in about half a mile. The whole channel 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 293 

is full of rocks, and the water roars aloud in passing 
through. From hence up to Faxon's Island, there is in 
many places a sudden rise, ten or twelve feet high, called 
the Boother Bank. This has doubtless, at some time, been 
the bank of the river ; but if, at some distant period, the 
water of the river Delaware flowed over the top of Bow- 
man's Hill (which is probable), this small alteration in its 
course must have happened long since, perhaps at the 
time of some great fresh. 

It is also supposed that the Delaware once flowed over 
the top of the Blue Mountain, and that there was a great 
lake on the north side of it; that the fall of a great 
southerly storm of rain, at the breaking up of winter, and 
melting of a deep snow, has so raised the waters that the 
obstruction of the water gap at the mountain was sud- 
denly borne away, causing a vast rise of the waters below 
and producing proportionable effects. Probably the ob- 
struction at Solebury and other places above were then 
worn down and carried away. It is certain that large 
pieces of limestone and other stone are now found along 
the shore, that have been washed down a great distance. 
Diflerent kinds of stone, by continual rolling and wear- 
ing, have become smooth and round, and are called 
boothers. The continual washing away of the earth by 
the fall of rains and flowing of streams, has caused the 
winding hollows and general inequalities that now appear, 
at least this broken roughness must be now much greater 
than it was two thousand years back. 

The first settlers generally came from England, and 
were of the middle rank, and chiefly Friends : many of 



294 watson's account of 

them had first settled at the Falls, but soon after removed 
back, as it was then called, into the woods. As they 
came away in the reigns of Charles, James, William, and 
Ann, they brought with them not only the industry, 
frugality, and strict domestic discipline of their education, 
but also a portion of those high-toned political impressions 
that then prevailed in England. 

Friends had suffered much under the Stuarts; and 
though promised much by the Oliverians and a republican 
equality, they experienced but little relief from either. 
They therefore equally disliked the Presbyterians and 
the pretender ; and were loyally attached to the Protestant 
succession in the house of Hanover. 

Being particularly pleased with the charter of privileges 
formed by their great patron, William Penn, they natu- 
rally esteemed it a kind of religious duty, vigilantly to 
guard against anything that might tend to a violation of 
so valuable an acquisition, which at once secured civil 
and religious liberty. The principles of government 
having been warmly discussed for some time back in the 
mother country, the subject had become familiar to com- 
mon capacities ; and politics were frequently a topic of 
fireside conversation, in which the newly installed free- 
men felt themselves deeply interested. 

From this remote cause, perhaps, has originated, in 
part, the zealous energy of party spirit at the present 
time. Many of the early settlers of Buckingham and 
Solebury had been educated in what may, with some pro- 
priety, be termed good style; and though not great 
scholars, yet were great men. The exercise of their per- 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 295 

sonal and mental abilities were excited into a high flow 
of energy by the bold enterprise of settling a new coun- 
try, under so many novel circumstances, of such import- 
ance to themselves and their posterity. The women were 
generally good housekeepers ; or at least, their industry 
and frugality made proper amends for whatever might be 
deficient, in respect to such improvements and refine- 
ments as were not so well suited to their circumstances of 
mediocrity and equality. 

At that early period, when our forefathers were build- 
ing log houses, barns, and sheds for stables, and clearing 
new land, and fencing it chiefly with poles or brush, it 
has been said that a hearty, sincere good icill for each 
other generally prevailed among them. They all stood 
occasionally in need of the help of their neighbors, who 
were often situated at some distance through the woods. 

Chronic ailments were not so frequent as at present ; 
which was, perhaps, in part owing to the wholesome diet ; 
brisk exercise, lively manners, and cheerful and unrefined 
state of the mind. But acute disorders, such as fevers, 
in various degrees — those called "long fevers, dumb 
agues, fever-and-agues," — sore throats, and pleurisies were 
then much more common than now. The natural small- 
pox was peculiarly distressing — was mostly severe, and 
often mortal — and nothing strange that it should be so. 
The nature of the disorder being but little known, it was 
very improperly treated by the nurses, to whose care the 
management was chiefly committed. A hot room, plenty 
of bedclothes, hot teas, and milk punch, or hot tifl" were 
pronounced most proper to bring the eruption out, and to 



296 watson's account of 

make it fill well ; and the chief danger was apprehended 
from the patient taking cold by fresh air or cold drink. 

This mode of ill-directed kindness produced scenes of 
afflicting distress ; nearly whole families being ill at once. 
Good friends and neighbors, both men and women, col- 
lected, affording their assistance by turns, often for several 
weeks. Rum was esteemed absolutely necessary for the 
sick, and nearly as much so for the attendants. A dram, 
either raw, sweetened, or with wormwood or rue juice, 
and chewing, but more commonly smoking tobacco, were 
used as antidotes against infections or offensive smells. 
A dram or the pipe amused the vacant time, and was 
supposed to be useful. As money was scarce, and laborers 
few, and business often to be done that required many 
hands, friends and neighbors were commonly invited to 
raisings of houses and barns, grubbing, chopping, and 
rolling logs, that required to be done in haste to get in 
the crop in season. Rum and a dinner or supper were 
provided on these occasions ; and much competition ex- 
cited in the exercise of bodily strength and dexterity, 
both at work and athletic diversions. 

Reciprocal assistance being much wanted was freely 
afforded and gratefully received, and notwithstanding the 
rude and unpolished state of mind and manners that may 
be expected to have prevailed in the first settlers in a 
wilderness country, and in a much more marked degree 
in those who succeeded after them, yet from their mutual 
wants and dependencies, the social and active vivacity of 
simple nature, and perhaps more than all these, from 
their hearty and honest zeal in a religious bias of the 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 297 

mind, a kind and unaffected friendship formed a principal 
feature of their general character. Their equality of 
circumstances, similarity of views and pursuits, and union 
in religious and civil principles, and the acquisition of 
new acquaintances far from their former connexions, all 
tended to unite them in habits of sociability, and to form 
impressions of sincere regard. 

When false impressions, or indeed ignorance, have once 
so far gained ground as to influence general habits and 
customs on an erroneous principle, it requires much labor, 
and a long time to wear them out. This appears evident 
in the use that is made of spirituous liquors and tobacco. 
It is probable the first settlers used these articles to ward 
off infection ; and spirits principally to prevent the bad 
effects of drinking water, to which they had not been 
accustomed in Europe. They imagined the air and water 
of this hot climate to be unwholesome. The immediate 
bad effect of cold water, when heated with exercise in 
summer, and the fevers and agues which seized many in 
the autumn, confirmed them in this opinion; and not 
having conveniences to make beer that would keep in hot 
weather, they at once adopted the practice of the laboring 
people in the West Indies, and drank rum. This being 
countenanced by general opinion, and brought into general 
practice as far as their hmited ability would admit, bottles 
of rum were handed about at vendues, and mixed and 
stewed spirits were repeatedly given to those who attended 
funerals — 

" So fast the growth of what is surely wrong." 



298 watson's account of 

A concern arose among Friends on the subject, and a 
stop was put to this evil practice in a short time. I call 
it evil, because it produced effects that were hurtful in a 
high degree to individuals, and also to society in general. 

An act of Assembly was passed, prohibiting the giving 
of spirits at vendues ; and though the law was not much 
regarded for many years, and the practice continued, yet 
this mischievous and dishonest practice is almost wholly 
disused. 

In early times weddings were held as festivals ; probably 
in imitation of such a practice in England. 

Relations, friends, and neighbors were generally in- 
vited, sometimes to the amount of one or two hundred ; 
a good dinner was provided, and a lively spirit of plain 
friendship, but rather rude manners, prevailed in the 
company. 

They frequently met again next day, and being mostly 
young people, and from under restraint, practised social 
plays and sports, in which they often went to an extreme 
of folly; but in those times such opportunities of pro- 
moting social acquaintance might be in some degree proper, 
though otherwise wrong. 

At births many good women were collected ; wine or 
cordial waters were esteemed suitable to the occasion for 
the guests : but besides these, rum, either buttered or 
made into hot tiff, was believed to be essentially neces- 
sary for the lying-in woman. The tender infant must be 
straightly rolled round the waist with a linen swathe, and 
loaded with clothes until he could scarcely breathe -, and, 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 299 

when unwell or fretful, was dosed with spirit and water 
stewed with spicery. 

Thus it w^as that manners and customs were not yet 
reduced from the rude and unpolished practices of antiquity 
to the proper standard of use and propriety. A consider- 
able degree of roughness and rusticity of mind and man- 
ners prevailed, and for some time increased in the gener- 
ations that succeeded the first settlers. For this I shall 
call to view several reasons; first, the loose order of 
schools; the severe whippings and ferulings, which did 
not at all mend the matter ; the small stock of learning 
obtained; but more than all, the free use of rum at 
vendues, at frolics, and in hay-time and harvest. On all 
these occasions, quarrels and fist fights frequently hap- 
pened ; and in the lower class of people a high degree of 
ignorance and want of respect due to themselves or 
others prevailed ; so that much might be seen and heard 
that was loiv-lived in the full sense of the term ; and this 
was far from being limited to persons of small property 
only. 

When wheat. and rye grew thick and tall on new land, 
and all w^as to be cut with sickles, many men and some 
w^omen became dexterous in the use of them, and victory 
was contended for in many a violent trial ; sometimes by 
two or three only, and sometimes by the whole company 
for forty or fifty perches. About the year 1744, twenty 
acres of wheat were cut and shocked in half a day in 
Solebury. Kum was drunk in proportion to the hurry of 
business, and long intervals of rest employed in merry 
and sometimes angry conversation. 



300 watson's account of 

The imposing authority of necessity obliged the first 
settlers and their successors to wear a strong and coarse 
kind of dress ; enduring buckskin was used for breeches 
and sometimes for jackets ; oznabrigs, made of hemp tow 
at Is. id. per yard, was much used for boys' shirts ; some- 
times flax, and flax and tow were used for that purpose, 
and coarse tow for trowsers; a wool hat, strong shoes, 
and brass buckles, two linsey jackets, and a leather 
apron, made out the winter apparel. This kind of dress 
continued to be common for the laboring people until 
1750. 

Yet a few, even in early times, somewhat to imitate 
the trim of their ancestors, laid out as much to buy one 
suit of fine clothes as would have purchased two hundred 
acres of pretty good land. The cut of a fine coat (now 
antiquated) may be worthy of description. Three or 
four large plaits in the skirts — wadding almost like a 
coverlet to keep them smooth — cuffs vastly large up to 
the elbows, open below, and of a round form. The hat 
of a beau was a good broad-brimmed beaver, with double 
loops, drawn nearly close behind, and half raised on each 
side. The women in full mode wore stiff" whalebone stays, 
worth eight or ten dollars. The silk gown much plaited 
in the back ; the sleeves nearly twice as large as the arm, 
and reaching rather more than half way from the shoulder 
to the elbow — the interval covered with a fine holland 
sleeve, nicely plaited, locket buttons, and long-armed 
gloves. Invention had then reached no farther than a 
bath bonnet with a cape. 

Something like this was the fashion of gay people, of 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 301 

whom there were a few, though not maii}^ in early thnes, 
in Buckingham and Solebuiy. But the whole, or some- 
thing like it, was often put on for wedding suits, with the 
addition of the bride being dressed in a long black hood 
without a bonnet. There was one of these solemn S3an- 
bols of matrimony made of near two ^^ards of rich black 
Paduasoy, that was lent to be worn on those occasions, 
and continued sometimes in use, down to my remem- 
brance. Several of these odd fashions were retained, 
because old, and gradually gave way to those that were 
new. The straw plat, called the bee-hive bonnet, and 
the blue or green apron, were long worn by old women. 

Notwithstanding the antique and rough dresses and 
unimj^roved habits and manners that obtained among the 
early settlers, yet an honest candid intention, a frank sin- 
cerity, and a good degree of zeal and energy in adhering 
to religious and civil principles and duties, generally pre- 
vailed among the more substantial part of them. 

The careful housewifery and strict domestic discipline 
of many honorable mothers, has had an influential effect 
down to the present time : so that whatever there may 
have been or that now remains as valuable traits of 
character, in the inhabitants of these parts of the 
country, is chiefly omng to the virtues of the first 
settlers, especially in those families (which are many) 
who remain to the present time. 

The first surveys in what was then called Buckingham 
were as early as 168- , and the greater part were located 
before 1703. It is now not easy to ascertain who made 
the first improvement ; but most probably, from circum- 



302 watson's account of 

stances, it was Thomas and John Bye ; and George Pow- 
nall,* Edward, Henry, and Roger Hartley, Doctor Streper, 
and William Cooper, came early ; Richard Burgess, John 
Scarbrough, grandfather of the preacher of that name, 
and Henry Paxon,f were also early settlers. John and 
Richard Lundy,J John Large, and James Lenox, and 
William Lacey, John Worstell, Jacob Holcomb, Joseph 
Linton, Joseph Fell, Matthew Hughes, Hugh Ely, and 
perhaps Richard Norton, came from Long Island about 
1705. 

* George Pownall, Avitli Eleanor, his wife, and children, Reuben, 
Elizabeth, Sarah, Rachel, and Abigail, arrived in the Ship " Friends' 
Adventure," 28th, tth mo., 1682. They were from Loylock, in the 
County of Chester, England. — Bucks County Registry of Arrivals. 

The same records registers the birth of a son of George and 
Eleanor .Pownall, 11th of 9th mo., 1682, and the death of George 
Pownall previously, on the 30th of 8th mo., 1682. 

There may be an error in the Registry, and 9th month may have 
been intended for 7th, and the record refer to the same individual ; or 
the George named fn the text may have been the person whose birth 
is recorded, and the record of death that of his father, who arrived in 
1682.— Editor. 

f " Henry Paxon, of " Bycot House, in the Parish of Stow," 
" in the County of Oxford," England, aged about twenty-seven 
years, came in the Ship ' The Samuel, of London,' and arrived 
middle of 7th mo., 1682;" his wife, brother Thomas, and son Henry, 
died at sea; his daughter Elizabeth, born about 5th of 9th mo., 1675, 
survived. Pie appears, on 13th of 6th mo., to have married Margery 
Plumley, of " Neshaminey Creek." Registry of Arrivals. — Editor. 

I Richard Lundy, of Axminster, Devonshire, England, son of 
Sylvester Lundy, of same town, originally came to Boston, N. E., 
6th mo., 1676; thence to Pennsylvania, 19th of 3d mo., 1682. He 
married, 24th of 6th mo., 1684, Elizabeth, daughter of William Ben- 
net, of Longford, Co. Middlesex, England, who arrived 8th mo., 
1683. He is styled of " Glasenbery, Co. Bucks," Pennsylvania. — 
Registry of Arrivals. — Editor 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 303 

The first adventurers were chiefly members of the 
Falls Meeting ; and are said to have frequently attended 
it, and often on foot. In the year 1700, leave was 
granted by the Quarterly Meeting to hold a meeting for 
worship at Buckingham, which was first at the house of 
William Cooper (now John Gillingham's) . They soon 
after removed to the house of James Steiper (now Benja- 
min Williams') ; and in that time, and for some time 
after, some of those who died in the new settlement were 
buried on his land, I believe near the line in the old 
orchard, — others were taken to the Falls or Middletown. 
In a short time, they removed again, and held a meeting 
at Nathaniel Bye's, where his grandson, Thomas Bye, 
now lives. 

Doctor James Streiper then made a deed in trust to 
several Friends for ten acres of land to build a meeting- 
house on, and for a burying-ground, with privilege of 
roads five several ways or directions through his tract to 
go to it ; and on a clear grassy spot, on the west side of a 
path or road that went winding up the hill, they built a 
log meeting-house, near the lower side of the present 
graveyard. As their numbers increased rapidly, in the 
year 1710 they were united with Wrightstown in holding 
a monthly meeting at that place; and at some time, when 
their log house was found to be too small, they built a 
frame house, a little further up. Before joining with 
Wrightstown (a period perliaps, with some of them, of 
twenty years), they are said to have been diligent in 
attending meetings for discipline, though at so great a 
distance. 



304 watson's account of 

It is probable that about the time of building the first 
house, a graveyard was fenced in near by; this place 
might be preferred, because clear of timber and grassy, 
but it was wet in winter and very unsuitable. 

About 1720, Wrightstown and Buckingham were 
joined, to hold a monthly meeting alternately at each 
place J and perhaps about that time an addition of a 
stone house was made to the upper end of the frame 
building, to accommodate the women to hold their meet- 
ings of business. This arrangement continued until 1731, 
when a pretty large stone house was built, a little higher 
up the hill, and a stone addition at the upper 6nd, one 
story high, for the women. Many Friends were then 
desirous of building on the sj)ot where the meeting-house 
now stands, particularly Thomas Canby, Jun. He pur- 
chased a piece of land for the purpose of building at least 
on a somewhat better place than the old spot, to which 
the prejudices of ^some strongly attached tlifem. 

In this house, in 1732, Friends of Buckingham first 
held a separate monthly meeting, and perhaps quarterly 
and general meetings. 

Friends at Buckingham Meeting, about that period, 
were greatly favored with a lively flow of Gospel 
ministry. Jacob Holcomb, John Scarbrough,* Samuel 

* "John Scarborough, of London, coachsmith, arrived in 1682, 
with his son John, then a youth, and settled in Middletown, Bucks 
County, among the first in those parts, where he remained about two 
years, and then embarked for his native country, having placed his 
son under the care of a friend, with intention to bring over his wife 
and family ; having suftered much, by persecution for his religion, in 
England, being a Quaker, but he never returned. His wife, who 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 305 

Eastburn, Joshua Ely, Benjamin Fell, Enoch Pearson, 
Edmund Kinsey, Abigail Paxson, Elizabeth Fell, Phebe 
Ely, formerly Phebe Smith, Jane Bradfield, Ann Schol- 
field, were all ministers, and all of them at the same time 
members of Buckingham Meeting, except Jacob Plolcomb 
and Abigail Paxson, who were deceased before my 
memory: all the rest I can well remember, about 1750 
and 1751. John Scarbrough was frequent and generally 
large in his testimonies; as was also Isaac Child, who 
appeared at Plumstead when quite a young man. 
Nathan Preston and Thomas Vickers were ministers 
belonging to that meeting. 

In the space of time from the first improvement until 
1730, perhaps a jDcriod of more than forty years, many 
circumstances and occurrences may be worthy of remark, 
and especially the difficulty of beginning in the woods. 
Building a house or cabin, and clearing or fencing a field 
to raise some grain, were the first concerns; procuring 
fodder for their small stocks was next to be attended to : 
for this purpose they cut grass in plains or swamps, often 
at several miles from home, stacked it up on the spot, and 
hauled it home in the winter. 

One of the first dwelling-houses yet remains in Abrar 

was not a Quaker, being unwilling to leave her native country, and 
persecution beginning to cease, he afterwards gave his possessions 
in Pennsylvania to his son, whom he had left in the province with 
a strict charge, when it should be in his power, to be kind to the 
poor Indians, for the favors he had received from them : which his 
son faithfully observed and complied with, and is said to have been 

a worthy man and a good character." Proud, Vol. I., p. 222, 223. 

Editor. 

20 



306 watson's account of 

liam Paxson's yard on the tract called William Croas- 
dale's,* now Henry Paxson's. It is made of stone, and is 
dug into the earth, where there is a moderate descent, 
about twenty feet by ten or twelve. At the end fronting 
the southeast was a door leading into the dwelling-room 
for the whole family, where there was a sort of chimney ; 
and a door at the other end, also level with the ground, 
led into the loft, which must have been the lodging- 
room. 

Until a sufficient quantity of grain was raised for them- 
selves and the new-comers, all further supply had to be 
brought from the Falls or Middle town; and, until 1707, 
all the grain had to be taken there or to Morris G win's, 
on Pennepack below the Billet, to be ground. In that 
year, Eobert Heath built a grist-mill on the great spring 
stream in Solebury. This must have been a great hard- 
ship, — to go so far to mill for more than seventeen years, 
and chiefly on horseback. It was some time that they 
had to go the same distance with their plough-irons and 
other smith work. Horses were seldom shod ; and blocks 
to pound hominy were a useful invention borrowed from 
the natives. After all their care and industry to provide 
for the winter, they must have struggled with many 
difficulties and suffered much hardship in passing over 
that tedious and rigorous season, when the snow was 
generally deep, and the winds piercing cold. 

In 1690, there were many settlements of Indians in 

* William and John Croasdale were the sons of Thomas and 
Agnes Croasdale. Thomas died in 1684, and Agnes in 1686. — 
Registry of Arrivals. — Editor. 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 307 

these townships, — one on the lowland near the river, on 
George Pownall's tract, which remained for some time 
after he settled there, — one on James Streiper's tract, 
near Conkey Hole, — one on land since Samuel Harold's, 
— one on Joseph Fell's tract, — and one at the great 
spring, &c. 

Tradition reports that they were kind neighbors, sup- 
plying the white people with meat, and sometimes with 
beans and other vegetables, which they did in perfect 
charity, bringing presents to their houses, and refusing 
pay. Their children were sociable and fond of play. A 
harmony arose out of their mutual intercourse and de- 
pendence. Native simplicity reigned in its greatest 
extent. The difference between the families of the white 
man and the Indian, in many respects, was not great, — 
when to live was the utmost hope, and to enjoy a bare 
sufficiency the greatest luxury. 

About 1704, several new settlers arrived; among whom 
was my great-grandfather, Thomas Watson. His certifi- 
cate is from Pardsey Cragg, in Cumberland, G. B., dated 
23d, 7th mo., 1701. His wife was Eleanor Pearson, of 
Probank, in Yorkshire, and their two sons, Thomas and 
John. He first settled at a place then called Money Hill, 
near Bristol; and settled finally, about 1703 or 1704, on 
Bosill's four hundred acres, in Buckingham. 

About the same, came Joseph Fell, Linton, Mat- 
thew Hughes, John Hill, Ephraim Fentou, Isaac Pen- 
nington, and Pickering. 

Thomas Canby, for several reasons, appears to deserve 
especial notice. His mother's brother, Samuel Baker, was 



308 watson's account of 

one of the early adventurers ; and soon after, return* ng 
to England, brought his nephew, Thomas Canby, then a 
lad, over with him. Being an orphan, his uncle became 
his guardian. He was bound by indenture to serve with 
him; in which they took the advice of the Quarterly 
Meeting. After he was free, he married and settled near 
Robert Fletcher's, in Abington. His first wife died, and 
he married a second wife. By these wives he had four 
sons and eleven daughters. The sons were Thomas, Ben- 
jamin, Oliver, and Joseph, who died in his minority. 
Several of the daughters married as follows : 

Sarah, to John Hill; Esther, to Stapler, after- 
wards to John White ; Phebe, to Robert Smith, afterwards 
to Hugh Ely; Elizabeth, to Thomas Lacey; Mary, to 
Joseph Hamton; Rebecca, to Samuel Wilson; Jane, to 
Thomas Paxson ; Martha, to James Gillingham, afterwards 
to Joseph Duer; Lydia, to John Johnson. Ann and 
Rachel died single. 

Thomas Canby removed and settled on a part of 
Lundy's tract in Buckingham, on which he built a stone 
house one story high, with a hip roof, now belonging to 
Joshua Anderson. This he sold to Samuel Blaker, and 
purchased Scarbrough's tract in Solebury, where his two 
sons, Thomas and Benjamin, built houses, having pur- 
chased of their father. This now belongs to Matthias 
Hutchinson and John Scarbrough. 

Thomas himself removed to Heath's mill, which he 
purchased in company with Anthony Morris of Philadel- 
phia. Here he married a third wife, and for some time 
carried on business at the mill. His son, Ohver Canby, 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLE BURY. 309 

having that land and stream where the Brandywine mills 
are now erected, the old man removed there also ; but 
returned back, and died at Solebury in the year 1742. 

He was a lively, active man, of plain, sound under- 
standing, a good constitution, and qualified to carry on 
business with spirit. He maintained a strict discipline in 
his family; and it is remarkable, that nearly all his 
children were happily matched, and that many reputable 
families have sprung from him as an original ancestor. 

My great-grandfather, Thomas Watson, followed malt- 
ing in England ; but from original curiosity in his mind, 
he became acquainted with several of the books which 
were then in request in surgery, physic, and chemistry, 
and settling here, where no practitioner resided for many 
miles, he by degrees became in high esteem as a doctor. 
It is reported that he was very successful in setting 
broken bones, and curing scald heads, old ulcers, and dis- 
orders in general. He was the original inventor of the 
spicy anodyne called Watson's black droj^s, which is an 
excellent medicine. After his decease, which I suppose 
was in 1731 or 1732, his son, John Watson, with much 
better opportunity of acquiring medical knowledge, took 
his fither's place as the only doctor for twenty miles in 
every direction. He was much improved by an intimate 
acquaintance with Doctors Bond, Jones, Kearsley, Owen, 
and others, during sixteen years of his attendance as a 
member of Assembly at Philadelphia. He was possessed 
of an uncommonly sociable disposition and strong powers 
of mind; he pursued a rational method, and was very 
successful in his practice. He died in 1760. 



310. watson's account of 

Thomas Watson, eldest son of Thomas Watson, died 
before his father ; leaving several children, Avho all died 
young, except John and Sarah. John Watson was sent 
to school, and procured a greater stock of learning than 
was common in those times. He became the deputy sur- 
veyor in this county, and by the force of a suitable 
docility of mind and quickness of perception, rather than 
from constant application, he acquired among learned 
men the character of a great scholar. At the time of his 
decease, which was in 1761, he was employed in company 
with Purdie and Dixon in running the line between Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland. Being seized with the influenza, 
and having taken cold while m a fever, and in extremely 
hot weather he rode upwards of sixty miles in a day to 
William Blackfan's, where he died. 

Henry Paxson, not the same who is marked as a first 
purchaser also, but perhaps his brother's son, was an early 
inhabitant (in 1729 or sooner). He had a large family 
of children, two sons, and eight daughters, who married to 
the following persons, to wit — 

Thomas Hartley, Matthew Beans, Henry Eoberts, D, 
Doan, Joseph Duer, Timothy Beans, Jonas Preston, Thomas 
Paxson. His sons were Henry and Thomas. 

Samuel Wilson married Kebecca Canby ; they had four- 
teen children, one died young ; six sons and seven daugh- 
ters. The daughters married as follows : 

Joseph Eastburn, Jonathan Fell, Hugh Ely, Joseph 
Fell, Robert Kirkbride, Joshua Morris. 

These examples show what a great number of the 
present inhabitants have arisen from a few original stocks. 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 311 

Samuel Wilson's children have all been married, and 
are all living, except Thomas. 

While the land was fresh and new, it produced good 
crops of wheat and rye; from fifteen to twenty-five or 
thirty bushels per acre. 

It appears in an old account book of my grandfather, 
Richard Mitchel's, who had a grist-mill and store in 
Wright's town, from 1724 to 1735, that his charges are 
as follows : wheat, from 3s. to 45. ; rye, one shilling less ; 
Indian corn and buckwheat, 2s. ; middlings, fine, 7^. and 
Ss. ; coarse, 4s. Qd. ; bran. Is. ; salt, 45. ; beef, 2d. ; bacon, 
4:d. ; pork was about 2d. 

Improved land was sold generally by the acre, at the 
price of twenty bushels of wheat. Thus, wheat, 2s. Qd., 
land, 21. 10s. ; wheat, 3s., land, 31. ; wheat, 3s. Qd., land, 
31. 10s. ; wheat, 5s., land, 5?. ; wheat, 7s. 6c?., land, 71. 
10s.; wheat, 10s., land, 101. When provender could be 
procured to keep stock through the winter, milk, butter, 
and cheese became plenty for domestic use. Swine were 
easily raised and fattened. Deer, turkeys, and other 
small game, made a plentiful supply of excellent provision 
in their season. Roast venison and stew-pies were 
luxurious dishes, which the hunter and his family en- 
joyed in their log cabins with a high degree of pleasure. 

Having generally passed over the era of necessity that 
attended the first settlement about 1730, and for some 
time before, they mostly enjoyed a pretty good hving, 
were well fed, clothed, and lodged ; and though all was 
in the coarse way, yet their fare was wholesome and 
nourishing, their clothes fine enough for laboring people, 



312 watson's account of 

and no doubt they slept as sound on chaff beds on the 
floor in the loft as they could have done with all the 
finery that the inventions of later days hav-e introduced. 
The domestic management that fell to the share of the 
women was generally well ordered. As soon as wool and 
flax were raised, they manufactured good linen of dif- 
ferent kinds and degrees of fineness, drugget, hnsey, 
worsted, &c., sufiicient to clothe themselves and families ; 
were very industrious and frugal, and contented to live 
on what their present means afforded, and were generally 
well qualified to make the most proper use of what they 
had. 

Notwithstanding the engagements at home, and the 
difficulty of travelling in those early times, yet visits of 
friendship were frequent, not only to relations, but others. 
On these occasions, cider, metheglin or small beer, toast 
of light biscuit made of fine wheat flour, and milk, butter, 
cheese, custards, pies, made an afternoon's repast. Choco- 
late was sometimes used, and, in lack of other materials, 
the toast was sometimes made with rum and water. For 
common living, milk and bread and pie made the break- 
fast, the milk being boiled, and sometimes thickened in 
winter ; good pork or bacon, with plenty of sauce, a wheat 
flour pudding or dumplings, with butter and molasses, for 
dinner ; and mush or hominy, with milk and butter and 
honey, for supper. Pies of green or dried apples were 
the universal standard of good eating, especially with 
children. When milk was scarce, small-beer thickened 
with wheat flour and an egg, or cider in that way, made 
an agreeable breakfast. 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 313 

The new stone meeting-liouse being built about 1731, 
several stone dwelling-houses were built about that time 
and soon after ; as Joseph Fell's, Thomas Canby's, John 
Watson's, Joseph Large's, and Henry Paxson's, Several 
frame houses were also built, enclosed with nice shaved 
clapboard, plastered inside. One of these yet remains 
standing on Thomas Watson's land, now John Lewis's. 
The boards for floors and partitions were all sawed by 
hand, and the hauling done with carts and sleds, as there 
were not many, if any, wagons at that early period. 

Wheat was the principal article for making money. 
Butter, cheese, poultry, and such articles were taken to 
market on horseback. There were but few stores in the 
neighborhood, and those kept but few articles. 

Most of the original tracts were settled and improved 
before 1720; and, in 1730, the lands up the Neshamony 
and in Plumstead were settled ; and in New Britain by 
Welsh generally. Large fields were cleared and pretty 
well fenced ; low and swampy land was cleared out for 
meadow ; and but little seed of any kind of foreign grass 
was sown, as the plough was seldom used to prepare for 
meadow ; and red and white clover were only propagated 
by manure after they were first somehow scattered about 
oh the new settlement. 

From 1730 to 1750, as the people were industrious, 
the land fresh and fertile, and seasons favorable, their 
labors were blessed with a plentiful increase : so that 
many plain dwelling-houses and good barns were built, 
convenient articles of household furniture were added 
by degrees; and by the means of productive labor, 



314 watson's account of 

moderate riches increased insensibly. The winter of 
1740-41 was very severe. The snow was deep, and lay 
from the latter end of December to the fourth of March ; 
and in the period above mentioned, there was generally 
more snow, and that lay longer on the ground through 
the winters than of latter years. Easterly storms of 
pretty heavy rain, lasting mostly two or three days, were 
also much more frequent. 

Northern lights, I believe, are not so common of late 
years as formerly ; but of this I am not certain. 

Houses for keeping school in were very few, and those 
poor, dark, log buildings ; the masters generally very un- 
suitable persons for the purpose ; and but little learning 
obtained at school. Schooling was twenty shillings a 
year, and the master boarded with the employers. 

Indian corn, not being an article of trade, was not 
attempted to be raised in large quantities before 1750, 
nor until some years after. It was dressed by ploughing 
and harrowing between the rows, the hills all moulded 
nicely with the hoe when the corn was small, and, after 
ploughing, hilled up again with the hoe. For wheat, 
open fallows were preferred, which were generally 
ploughed three times during the summer; but in this 
way, unless corn and buckwheat had preceded, the blue 
grass, not being killed, became injurious to the crop. 
Hence, what was called double cropping became common : 
which is sowing oats on the corn-stalk and buckwheat 
ground, and then sowing wheat in the fall. This prac- 
tice effectually killed the grass and impoverished the 
land, large fields being sown and but small portions 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 315 

manured. Liming answered a good purpose, which, kept 
the soil in better heart; but, on the Avhole, Avheat crops 
were on the decline, growing poorly in the fall, being 
eaten by lice or small flies ; and, in wet land, being frozen 
out by the winter. Mildew and rust sometimes destroyed 
it near the harvest. On all these accounts, spring grain 
was more cultivated ; and as horses, cattle, and pork, bore 
a better price, served in part to make up the deficiency. 
But the land generally suffered by a bad method of 
farming. 

Before this time, no cross occurrence happened materi- 
ally to disturb the general tranquillity ; every thing, both 
public and private, went on in an even and regular 
routine ; moderate wishes were fully supplied ; neces- 
saries and conveniences were gradually increased; but 
luxuries of any kind, except spirituous liquors, were 
rarely thought of, or introduced, either of apparel, house- 
hold furniture, or living. Farm carts were had by the 
best farmers. Thomas Canby, Richard Norton, Joseph 
Large, Thomas Gilbert, and perhaps a few more, had 
wagons before 1745; and a few two-horse wagons, from 
then to 1750, were introduced; and some who went to 
market had light tongue-carts for the purpose. These 
were a poor make-shift, easily overset, the wild team 
sometimes ran away, and the gears often broke. John 
Wells, Esq., was the only person who ever had a riding- 
chair, lie and Matthew Hughes were the only justices 
of the peace, except Thomas Canby, who held a commis- 
sion for a short time ; and there were no taverns in the 
two townships, except on the Delaware, at Howell's and 



316 watson's account of 

Coryell's Ferries (which was owing probably to the dispo- 
sition and manners of the inhabitants), and but one dis- 
tillery a short time. 

The preceding account will apply with general pro- 
priety to the state of things until 1754, when a war 
began between England and France, concerning lands on 
the west and northwest of Pennsylvania. Colonel Wash- 
ington was defeated and taken prisoner on Wills's Creek ; 
and, in the ensuing summer General Braddock was de- 
feated and killed in that country. When the Indians 
attacked the frontiers of this province, four or five hun- 
dred thousand jDOunds were granted in a few years' for the 
king's use ; money was also sent in from England to pur- 
chase provisions, and in general the war introduced a 
more plentiful supply of cash. Trade and improvements 
were proportionably advanced ; the price of all kinds of 
pr'oduce was increased, wheat was from six shillings to a 
dollar a bushel, and a land tax was raised to sink the 
debt ; yet the burden was not sensibly felt, as there was 
such an increasing ability to bear it. 

As the quantity of cash increased during the war, so 
also there was a much larger importation of foreign 
goods. Bohea tea and coffee became more used, which 
were not often to be found in any farmer's house before 
1750. Tea, in particular, spread and prevailed almost uni- 
versally. Half silks and calico were common for women's 
wearing; various modes of silk bonnets, silk and fine 
linen neckhandkerchiefs, in short, every article of 
women's clothing were foreign manufiicture. The men 
wore jackets and breeches of Bengal, nankeen, fustian, 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURY. 317 

black everlasting, cotton velvet, as the fashion of the 
season determined the point, which changed almost every 
year. Household furniture was added to, both in quan- 
tity and kind ; and hence began the marked distinction 
between rich and poor, or rather between new-fashioned 
and old-flxshioned, which has continued increasing ever 
since. The first beginning was by imperceptible degrees ; 
I believe tea and calico were the chief initiating articles. 
Tea was a convenient treat on an afternoon's visit, easily 
gotten ready at any time; and calico a light agreeable 
dress that w^ould bear washing. On the whole, present 
calculation, on the first cast, decided against homespun 
of almost every kind, and in favor of foreign manu- 
factures, which w^ere to be had in the city or country 
stores so cheap and often on credit. 

The subject of old and new fashion bore a considerable 
dispute, at least how far the new should be introduced. 
Some showed by their practice that they were for going 
as far as they could, some stopped half way, and a few, 
trjang to hold out as long as they could, were not to be 
won upon by any means more likely to prevail than by 
the w^omen, who had a strong aversion to appearing 
singular; so that at the present time, and for these 
twenty years past, there are but few men and fewer 
women left as perfect patterns of the genuine old-fiishioned 
sort of people. 



The author of the preceding relic died recently, in 
Bucks county, at an advanced age. He was, as may be 



318 watson's account of 

easily inferred from the text, one entirely unaccustomed 
to literary composition and of a defective education. 
Nevertheless, the amount of matter which the piece con- 
tains, calculated to interest either the local antiquary or 
the student who delights in surveying that process by 
which a vigorous, intelligent, and industrious population 
is formed, constituting the strength of such a country as 
America, has led the Committee of Publication to con- 
clude on its insertion, in all the naif sincerity of the 
original. 

John Watson — for he was not, as may readily be sup- 
posed, a medical graduate — was a man of unquestioned 
moral character. His pretensions to the Esculapian art 
were of that species which are elicited by necessity in a 
new and remote country. He spent much of his time in 
doing good ; living u]3on his farm, and by no means con- 
fining his attention to the practice of medicine. His 
honest and well-earned reputation, as an upright citizen 
and a healer of differences, will long dwell in the memories 
of the substantial landholders of the district he describes. 
The Historical Society have long had it in view to collect 
monographic descriptions of the different counties and 
other important districts of our State. Besides the local 
interest, which, in a land where the whole j^opulation are 
lords, and where every plantation has been the scene of 
a recent and romantic adventure, must always exist to a 
powerful degree, such collections furnish abundant food 
to the philosophical politician, and a copious fund of 
materials to the future writer who shall prepare a his- 
torical and geographical account of our community. The 



BUCKINGHAM AND SOLEBURT. 319 

Committee earnestly hope that the example set by the 
publication of the foregoing will draw forth from many 
minds equally active with that of its author, but better 
furnished with the qualifications of a writer, those con- 
tributions which are desired. 

*^* The words shell and redsTiell, presumed to be a cor- 
ruption of the old mineralogical term shale, are familiarly 
used in the neighborhood to express a species of clay-slate, 
crumbling into small parallelepipeds. 



The remarkable spring mentioned at page 291, rises in about the 
centre of a tract of land, containing six hundred and twelve acres, 
granted by the heirs of James Logan, for a Public Library. In 1192, 
upon the annexation of the Loganian Library to the Library Com- 
pany of Philadelphia, the property became vested in the latter insti- 
tution, upon the same trusts. 

These lands were leased for $155.55 per annum, and the lease 
expiring in 1861, it was renewed for one hundred and twenty-one 
years, at $1022.15 per annum. — Editor. 



BRIEF ACCOUNT 

OF THE 

DISCOVERY OF ANTHRACITE COAL 

ON THE 

LEHIGH. 

BY THOMAS C. JAMES, M.D. 



Read at a 3Ieeting of the Council, on the IWi of April, 1826. 



21 (821) 



AN ACCOUNT 



DISCOYEHY OF ANTHRACITE COAL. 



As the brief Account of the Discovery of the Anthra- 
cite Coal on the summit of the Mauch Chunk Mountain 
seemed to engage the attention of some of the members 
of the Historical Society, on one of the evenings of the 



The author of this sketch was born in Philadelphia, on the 31st 
of August, 1766, and received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from 
the University of Pennsylvania, in 1Y87. In the winter of 1790, he 
went to Edinburgh, where he further pursued his studies, under Dr. 
Hunter ; and, after visiting England and Ireland, returned to Phila- 
delphia in the year 1793, about the period of the breaking out of the 
yellow fever; during all its ravages many were the recipients of his 
kindness and skill. 

In 1811, he was elected to the Chair of Obstetrics, in the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, which he resigned in 1834. 

Dr. James had strong literary and poetic tastes, and for some 
years was the Editor of a Medical Journal. Highly regarded by his 
medical associates for his professional learning and skill, and by all 
for his many estimable qualities as a citizen and a man, he died on 
the 5th of January, 1835, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. 

We are indebted for these facts to a Biographical Sketch by the 
late Mr. Tyson. (Society's Memoirs, Vol. III., p. 105.)— Editor. 

(323) 



324 AN ACCOUNT OF THE 

meeting of their Council, and as it has been thought 
worthy of preservation, the writer of the following little 
narrative feels no objection to commit it, notwithstanding 
its imperfections, to paper, although the circumstances 
detailed occurred at such a distance of time as must plead 
an excuse for imperfect recollection. 

It was some time in the autumn of 1804 that the 
writer and a friend* started on an excursion to visit some 
small tracts of land that were joint property on the river 
Lehigh, in Northampton County. We went by the way 
of Allentown, and, after having crossed the Blue Moun- 
tain, found ourselves in the evening unexpectedly bewil- 
dered in a secluded part of the Mahoning Yalley, at a 
distance, as we feared, from any habitation ; as the road 
became more narrow, and showed fewer marks of having 
been used, winding among scrubby timber and under- 
wood. Being pretty well convinced that we had missed 
our way, but, as is usual with those who are wrong, un- 
willing to retrace our steps, we nevertheless checked our 
horses about sunsetting, to consider what might be the 
most eligible course. At this precise period, we happily 
saw emerging from the wood, no airy sprite, but, what 
was much more to our purpose, a good substantial 
German-looking woman, leading a cow laden with a bag 
of meal by a rope halter. Considering this as a probable 
indication of being in the neighborhood of a mill, we 
ventured to address our inquiries to the dame, who, in a 
language curiously compounded of what might be called 



* Anthony Morris, Esq. 



high and low Dutch^ with a spice of English, made us 
ultimately comprehend that we were not much above a 
mile distant from Philip Ginter's mill, and, as there was 
but one road before us, we could not readily miss our 
way. We accordingly proceeded, and soon reached the 
desired spot, where we met with a hospitable reception, 
but received the uncomfortable intelligence that we were 
considerably out of our intended course, and should be 
obliged to traverse a mountainous district, seldom trodden 
by the traveller's foot, to reach our destined port on the 
Lehigh, then known by the name of the Landing, but 
since dignified with the more classical appellation of Lau- 
sanne. We were kindly furnished by our host with 
lodgings in the mill, which was kept going all night; and 
as the structure was not of the most firm and compact 
character, we might almost literally be said to have been 
rocked to sleep. However, after having been refreshed 
with a night's rest, such as it was, and taking breakfast 
with our hospitable landlord, we started on the journey 
of the day, preceded by PJiilijp, with his axe on his 
shoulder, an implement necessary to remove the obstructs 
ing saplings that might impede the passage of our horses, 
if not of ourselves ; and these we were under the neces- 
sity of dismounting and leading through the bushes and 
briars of the grown-up pathway, if pathway had ever 
really existed. 

In the course of our pilgrimage we reached the summit 
of the Mauch-Chunk Mountain, the present site of the 
mine or rather quarry of Anthracite Coal ; at that time 
there were only to be seen three or four small pits, which 



326 AN ACCOUNT OF THE 

had much the appearance of the commencement of rude 
wells, into one of which our guide descended with great 
ease, and threw up some pieces of coal for our examina- 
tion ; after which, whilst we hngered on the spot, con- 
templating the wildness of the scene, honest Philip 
amused us with the following narrative of the original 
discovery of this most valuable of minerals, now prom- 
ising, from its general diffusion, so much of wealth and 
comfort to a great portion of Pennsylvania. 

He said, when he first took up his residence in that 
district of country, he built for himself a rough cabin in 
the forest, and supported his family by the proceeds of his 
rifle, being literally a hunter of the backwoods. The 
game he shot, including bear and deer, he carried to the 
nearest store, and exchanged for the other necessaries of 
life. But, at the particular time to which he then alluded, 
he was without a supply of food for his family, and after 
being out all day with his gun in quest of it, he was 
returning towards evening over the Maucli Chunh Moun- 
tain, entirely unsuccessful and dispirited, having shot 
nothing ; a drizzling rain beginning to fall, and the dusky 
night approaching, he bent his course homeward, con- 
sidering himself as one of the most forsaken of human 
beings. As he trod slowly over the ground, his foot 
stumbled against something which, by the stroke, was 
driven before him ; observing it to be hlaclc — to distinguish 
which there was just hght enough remaining — he took 
it up, and as he had often listened to the traditions of the 
country of the existence of coal in the vicinity, it occurred 
to him that this perhaps might be a portion of that '^ stone- 



DISCOVERT OF ANTHRACITE COAL. 327 

coaV of which he had heard. He accordingly carefully 
took it with him to his cabin, and the next day carried it 
to Colonel Jacob Weiss, residing at what was then known 
by the name of Fort Allen. The colonel, who was alive 
to the subject, brought the specimen immediately with 
him to Philadelphia, and submitted it to the inspection 
of John Nicholson and Michael Hillegas, Esqs., and 
Charles Cist, an intelligent printer, who ascertained its 
nature and qualifications, and authorized the colonel to 
satisfy Ginter for his discovery, upon his pointing out the 
precise spot where he found the coal. This was done by 
acceding to Ginter's proposal of getting through the forms 
of the patent-office the title for a small tract of land which 
he supposed had never been taken up, comprising a mill- 
seat, on which he afterwards built the mill which afforded 
us the lodging of the preceding night, and which he after- 
wards was unhappily deprived of by the claim of a prior 
survey. 

Hillegas, Cist, Weiss, and some others, immediately 
after (about the beginning of the year 1792) formed 
themselves into what was called the " Lehigh Coal Mine 
Company," but without a charter of incorporation, and 
took up about eight or ten thousand acres of, till then, 
unlocated land, including the Mauch Chunk Mountain, 
but probably never worked the mine. 

It remained in this neglected state, being only used by 
the blacksmiths and people in the immediate vicinity, 
until somewhere about the year 1806, when William 
Turnbull, Esq., had an ark constructed at Lausanne, 
which brought down two or three hundred bushels. This 



328 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE 



was sold to the manager of the water-works for the use 
of the Centre-Square steam-engine. It was there tried as 
an experiment, hut ultimately rejected as unmanageable, 
and its character for the time being hlasted, the further 
attempts at introducing it to public notice, in this way, 
seemed suspended. 

During the last war, J. Cist (the son of the printer), 
Charles Miner, and J. A. Chapman, tempted by the high 
price of bituminous coal, made an attempt to work the mine, 
and probably would have succeeded, had not the peace 
reduced the price of the article too low for competition. 

The operations and success of the present Lehigh Coal 
and Navigation Company must be well known to the 
Society; the writer will therefore close this communi- 
cation by stating, that he commenced burning the An- 
thracite Coal in the winter of 1804, and has continued 
its use ever since, believing, from his own exjDerience of its 
utility, that it would ultimately become the general fuel 
of this as well as some other cities. 

T C J 

Philada., April IStJi, 1826. 

The following shows the quantity of coal sent from 
Mauch-Chunk to Philadelphia by water in the years 
specified, viz. : — 

In 1820 16,000 bushels. 

1821 . 

1822 . 

1823 . 

1824 . 

1825 . 



32,000 


do 


80,000 


do 


230,000 


do 


500,000 


do 


516,236 


do 



DISCOVERY OF ANTHRACITE COAL. 



329 



In half the season, up to August 10th, 1826, there 
descended to Philadelphia 20,260 tons, equal to 567,280 
bushels, which is a greater amount by 51,044 bushels 
than descended in the icltole of the year 1825. 

During the last year, 750,000 bushels have been actually 
sold by the company, as the writer is informed by the 
secretary of the company. 

Note. — The subjoined table shows the tonnage of the Lehigh coal 
region from 1820 to 1863. 



TEAK. 


TONS. 


TEAR. 


TONS. 


1820 


365 


1842 


272,546 


1821 


1,0T3 


1843 


267,793 


1822 


2,240 


1844 


377,002 


1823 


5,823 


1845 


429,453 


1824 


9,541 


1846 


517,116 


1825 


28,393 


1847 


633,507 


1826 


31,280 


1848 


670,321 


182t 


32,074 


1849 


781,656 


1828 


30,232 


1850 


690,456 


1829 


25,1 1'O 


1851 


964,224 


1830 


41,750 


1852 


1,072,136 


1831 


40,966 


1853 


1,054,309 


1832 


70,000 


1854 


1,207,186 


1833 


123,000 


1855 


1,275,050 


1834 


106,244 


1856 


1,186,230 


1835 


131,250 


1857 


900,314 


1836 


148,211 


1858 


909,000 


1837 


223,902 


1859 


1,050,659 


1838 


213,615 


1860 


1,009,032 


1839 


221,025 


1861 


994,705 


1840 


225,318 


1862 


39(;,227 


1841 


143,087 


1863 


699,558 



The total tonnage from the three anthracite coal fields amounted in 
1863 to 9,420,135 tons. (See PoUKville Miners Journal, of January 
23, 1864.) The following additional particulars concerning the develop- 
ment of the coal region of the Lehigh, and which arc derived from 



330 AN ACCOUNT OF THE 

a Memoir of Josiah White by Mr. S. W. Roberts, may be found not 
uninteresting. 

" Experiments with anthracite coal had been made at the wire- 
mill at the Falls, owned by Josiah White, Joseph Gillingham, and 
Erskine Hazard ; and when the Schuylkill IS'avigation Company was 
chartered, in 1815, Josiah White took a lively interest in the enter- 
prise ; but not being able to agree in opinion with the gentlemen who 
had the control of the company, he told them that he would have no 
more to do with it, and would go and set up a rival improvement 
upon the Lehigh. They ridiculed the idea, and thought that he was 
much more likely to ruin himself than to build up a rival to them. 

"Yery liberal legislation was obtained, giving the control of the 
Lehigh River to Josiah White, Erskine Hazard, and G. F. A. Hauto, 
with the powers of an internal improvement company. The first and 
second of the partners had long been associates and intimate friends. 
* * * A large body of wild lands, containing an immense amount of 
anthracite coal, having been purchased in the neighborhood of Mauch 
Chunk, operations were commenced in 1818 to improve the river and 
to start the Lehigh coal trade. It was found to be a much more 
serious and expensive undertaking than had been anticipated. The 
Lehigh is a large stream, having a great deal of fall, and a very 
rocky bottom. The channels were crooked and intricate, and the 
fall was so great that when the river was low there was no naviga- 
tion whatever. Messrs. White and Hazard were their own 
engineers. They waded in the stream ; they sounded the channels ; 
they took the levels of the rapids ; they directed the blasting of the 
rocks, the building of the wing dams, and the removal of the bars. 
But something more was needed to make a good descending naviga- 
tion, and this was effected by means of a system of flushing, called 
"artificial freshets." * * * The coal was then brought down the rivers 
Lehigh and Delaware to Philadelphia, in arks roughly built of white 
pine plank and boards, which lumber was sold after the coal was 
unloaded. These arks were nearly square, and several of them 
were fastened together in a line by means of iron hinges, so as to 
make a long flexible boat, which would float safely in rough water, 
and was steered by a long oar at each end. 

" By means of this descending navigation the Lehigh coal trade 
was started in 1820, two years in advance of that on the Schuylkill 
navigation ; and the coal continued to be carried in arks until after 
the Lehigh Canal was constructed and ready for use. The practical 
limit of the capacity of the descending navigation was found to be 



DISCOVERY OF ANTHRACITE COAL. 331 

about 30,000 tons per annum, which was then considered to be a 
large trade. The consumption of lumber in building coal arks was 
very large, and numerous saw-mills were built to furnish it. The 
coal was hauled in wagons from the Summit Mines, then worked as 
an open quarry, to Mauch Chunk, nearly nine miles, on a turnpike 
road, built with a descending grade. The anthracite coal trade of 
Pennsylvania, thus started by Josiah White and his partner, Erskine 
Hazard, in 1820, when 365 tons were sent to market, has grown to 
the immense aggregate of *J,'100,000 tons in 1859, and it has conferred 
incalculable benefits upon the commonwealth. 

"As a large capital was required for extended operations, a charter 
was obtained in 1822 for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, 
and the rights of Messrs. White and Hazard were transferred by them 
to the new corporation for a large amount of its stock, they continuing 
to be its acting managers and engineers. In the spring of 182T, 
they laid a railroad, nine miles long, from the mines to Mauch Chunk, 
mostly on the bed of the old turnpike ; which was the first railroad in 
Pennsylvania, and the first in the United States, except a much 
shorter road from a granite quarry in Massachusetts. On the Mauch 
Chunk Railroad the loaded coal cars ran down to the river by 
gravity, and were hauled back when empty by mules. This pioneer 
railroad was considered to be a great curiosity, and attracted crowds 
of visitors to see it. 

" In 1821, after the railroad was made, the construction of the 
Lehigh Canal and ascending navigation was vigorously undertaken, 
under the supervision of Canvass White, who was a scientific civil 
engineer, and had been in charge of the construction of the eastern 
division of the Erie Canal of New York. Josiah White had much 
to do with the planning of the new works ; and he especially insisted 
on the locks being large, the canals wide and deep, and the bed of 
the river being used in many places for the boat channel. Thus the 
Lehigh Company was saved the enormous cost of a general enlarge- 
ment of its works, which has had to be encountered by so many other 
companies to meet the competition of rival lines. The canal from 
Mauch Chunk to Easton, forty-six miles, was opened in 1829." 

In a paper written by Mr. Erskine Hazard, entitled a History of 
the Introduction of Anthracite Coal, vol. ii., p. 155, of Memoirs of 
Society, some interesting facts are stated. — Editor. 



SOME EXTRACTS 

FROM 

PAPERS IN THE OEEICE 

OF THE 

SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 
AT HARRISBFRG, 

AND FROM OTHER DOCUMENTS. 

TRANSCRIBED 

BY REDMOND CONYNGHAM, ESQ. 

OP CARUSLE, 

AND COMMUNICATED BY HIM TO THE SOCIETY. 



Bead at a Meeting of the Council, March 15, 1826, 



(333) 



SOME EXTEACTS, ETC, 



NOTES OF SOxME PRINCIPAL OR CURIOUS EVENTS. 

1682. William Penn visited Shackamaxon, held fre- 
quent conferences with the Indians, and here laid the 
foundation of that regard and friendship which they ever 
afterwards evinced. It was by his residence in Shacka- 
maxon (now Kensington), that he was enabled from 
actual observation to describe the Indian character. (See 
letter dated August 16th, 1683.) 

William Penn held his most important interview with 
the Indian chiefs under the shade of the great elm, on the 
14th of October, 1682. 

1746. Abraham Sh alley, keeper of the Avorkhouse in 
the city of Philadelphia, was paid by the government for 
dieting a Spanish friar sixty-three days. 

Many of the emigrants from England were induced to 
take their proportions of British purchasers on the west 
side of Schuylkill, thinking that the Schuylkill front 
would be found on experience the most safe and conve- 
nient 5 but the traders afterwards ascertained that the 

(335) 



odb CONYNGHAMS HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Delaware, on account of its size and deptli, lield forth 
much stronger inducements for settlement, and they, 
therefore, applied for an abatement in the price of their 
lands. 

1749. It is remarkable that in this year there was but 
one house in Reading, and in 1752 it contained one hun- 
dred and thirty dwelling-houses, forty-one stables, and one 
hundred and six families, consisting of three hundred and 
seventy-eight persons. 

The rapid improvement of this town was owing to its 
eligible site on the Schuylkill as a place of trade. 

1755. The settlement at Great Cove, in the county of 
Cumberland, destroyed by the Indians. 

1757. "William West authorized to establish a post be- 
tween Carlisle and Philadelphia once a week if practicable. 

1757. Teedyuscung, on behalf of his Indian tribe, 
agreed with the Governor, as by the treaty at Easton, 
that Wyoming should be allotted to them for a residence, 
which it should not be lawful for them ever to sell, or for 
the proprietaries to buy. It was intended that King 
Teedyuscung and his Indians should hold and enjoy the 
lands during their lives, and their posterity after them. 
Houses were put up for them by order of government. 

17G0. March 17th. Snow fell four feet in depth. 

1761. Garrison at Fort Allen discharged by order of 
the Governor. 

1765. Episcopalians at Reading apply for a lottery to 
build a church. 

1767. Presbyterians commence building a meeting- 
house in Lancaster ; they apply for a lottery to finish it. 



conyngham's historical notes. 337 

1768. In January, Frederick Stump and John Iron- 
cutter murdered ten of the friendly Indians near Fort 
Augusta. The following is a letter from the Indian 
chief: — 



"Loving Beother, 

" I am glad to hear from you — I understand you are 
very much grieved, that tears run from your eyes — with 
my blanket I wipe away those tears — if your heart be 
not at ease I will make it tranquil — now shall I sit down 
again and smoke my pipe — I hold one end of the chain 
of friendship — if my brother let go the other end I will 
let my end fall, but not until then — four of my blood 
have been murdered — let Stump die — your people are 
good — StumjD only possesses the evil spirit — let then the 
people on Juniata remain at peace — danger is not abroad 
— the Red Men are at rest. 

" Your loving brother, 

"SHAWANA BEN." 

From the Big Island, to Capt. Patterson, at Juniata. 

1767. Instances of Longevity. This year died Edward 
Norris, in Virginia, aged 103. He was seventy years 
pilot within the Capes. 

In Maryland, Francis Ange, aged 134 years. He re- 
membered the death of Charles the First ; at the age of 
130 was in perfect health; and at the time of his death 
his faculties were perfect and memory strong. 

Died in Pennsylvania, aged 85, John Key. William 

22 



338 contngham's historical notes. 

Penn gave him a lot of ground in compliment of liis being 
the first born in the city of Philadelphia. 

This year was also remarkable for the mortality among 
horses, which prevailed throughout the British provinces. 

Bethlehem and Nazareth. 

In the year 1744, the Rev. George Whitfield, on his 
return to Pennsylvania from Savannah, was desirous of 
forming a settlement of free blacks in the interior of 
Pennsylvania, and he accordingly purchased two tracts 
of land, each containing four thousand acres j 'but after 
having made the purchase, finding the white population 
unfriendly to his views, he disposed of the land to the 
United Brethren, who, in the year 1743, held worship in 
a stable erected by Whitfield, and from that circum- 
stance called the place Bethlehem. This tract is about 
one quarter of a mile wide on each side of the clear white 
waters of the Leehai. On the other tract they built a 
town called Nazareth, nine miles distant. 

The European settlers were in those days few and 
thinly scattered around them. 

Singular Rules Observed by the Moravians. 

The adult unmarried men, and boys upwards of twelve 
years of age, in the settlement of the United Brethren 
live mostly together in a house called " The Choir-house 
of the Single Brethren." Thus also the adult unmarried 
women, and girls upwards of twelve years of age, inhabit 



contngham's historical notes. 339 

" The Choir-house of the Smgle Sisters." There are 
Choir-houses for widows and widowers. 

Marriages in the congregation of the United Brethren 
are made by general agreement, with the advice and 
approbation of the elders of the congregation. When- 
ever a Brother wishes to marry, he in the first instance 
signifies his intention to the elders. If they have no 
objection, his proposal is submitted to the Lot. If the 
question proves affirmative, and the sister proposed and 
her parents all give their approbation, the wedding is 
performed. 

At the baptism of children, both the witnesses and the 
minister bless the infant with laying on of hands. 

The pedilavium, or washing of feet, is used by some, 
agreeably to the command of Christ, " Ye also ought to 
wash one another's feet." 

The most singular custom is the assembling of the con- 
gregation in their respective burying-grounds on Easter 
morning at sunrise, wdien the Litany is performed. 

The school at Bethlehem is for girls j that at Nazareth 
for boys. 

The United Brethren are remarkable for their honest 
simplicity of manners, industry, economy, and neatness 
in their habitations ; kind and afiectionate to each other, 
living as brothers and sisters. They are considered a 
great acquisition to the province. 

*^* I have taken the above from documents in my possession. 



340 contngham's historical notes. 

INDIAN SPEECHES, ETC. 

1. To Sir "William Keith. 

1724. Indian Chief. — " Father, when On as landed, we 
formed perpetual friendship — he gave us land on the 
Brandy wine — we cannot take away our corn — the white 
men have sat down amongst it — they have stopt up the 
river — we are poor — we fish — we hunt — when the 
men hunt, the women and children take their bows and 
arrows and kill the fish in the shallow stream — the water 
is dark and deep — Father, we ask you to tell the white 
men to pull away the dams, that the water may flow — 
that the fish may swim." 

2. Conoquiescon's Speech, in 1770. 

" We delight not in war — we love peace — our people 
have been robbed and murdered, and no reparation — we 
receive wrong, and no reparation — if the aged warrior is 
silent the young will speak — revenge cannot be still — 
hurt those who hurt us — you told us we should fish and 
hunt in peace — open our eyes that we may see those 
good things." 

3. A Cayuga Chief — 1771. 

" When in the wigwam, we think of you — we Know 
the road we have travelled and the path we have walked 
together — it is the road of love — it is the path of friend- 



conyngham's historical notes. 341 

ship — we have come in safety — we see the old Council 
Fire which was kindled by our fathers — it burns bright 
and clear — clear your eyes that you may see us — open 
your mouths — whiten your hearts — unfasten your ears 
— hearken — the first fire burned clear and bright — 
another fire has been kindled — but both are gone out and 
the path to our brothers was difficult to find — our fathers 
held the chain of friendship — evil men have tried to break 
it, but we hold it fast — we looked at Wyoming — we saw 
white men from the rising of the sun — what do they do 
there ? — we did not give them the land — who are we ? — 
we are Shawanese, Delawares, Mohicans, Nantikokes, and 
Conoys — we gave the land to Onas — Onas gave us a little 
spot on which we might rest." 

Sliaivana Ben spoke as follows : 

" We were told when we were tired of our land we might 
leave it ; we are tired, we wish to sell it. We are tired 
of the Big Island. Our tomahawks and our muskets are 
dark, — make them brighter. Some of us are old, — give 
them horses. Brothers, let us now go back in peace, as 
we have had our talk." 

Note. — The Cayuga warrior alludes to the settlement of the Yalley 
of Wyoming by people from New England. 

*;,.* The foregoing were copied from original manuscripts in the 
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

4. Council at Easton. 

1759. October 11th. The Indian Chiefs and Governor 
Bernard and Governor Denny in Council. 



342 contngham's historical notes. 

Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagoes, Cayugas, Senecas, Tusca- 
roroes, Nanticokes, Coneys, Tuteloes, Chugants, Delar 
wares, Unamines, Munseys, Mohicons, Wappingers. 

Teedyuscung. — "I called, — the Indians have come. 
Speak, and they will hear, — sit and talk. I will sit, 
hear, and see." 

ToJmaio, Chief of the Cayugas. — " I speak for the Cayu- 
gas, Oneidas, Tuscaroroes, Tuteloes, Nanticokes, and 
Conoys. A road has been opened for us to this Council 
Fire. Blood has been spilt upon that road, — by this belt 
I wipe away that blood. I take the tomahawk " from off 
your heads." 

Niclias then spoke. — " Teedyuscung has said he is our 
chief, — we know him not. If he be our king, who made 
him so ? have you done it ? Say yes or no." | 

Tagashata. — " We know not who made him our king." 

Assarandonguas. — " No such thing was ever said in our 
wigwam that Teedyuscung was our king." 

Henry King. — " I speak for the Oneidas, Cayugas, 
Tuscaroras, Nanticokes, and Conoys. We say boldly he 
is not our king." 

Governor Denny. — " You say that Teedyuscung said he 
was your king, — he met us in the Council Fire at this 
place last year, — we considered him your representative, 
not your king, — he said he was not your king, — he called 
the Six Nations his uncles." 

Governor Bernard. — " I do not know that Teedyuscung 
is a greater man than any of your chiefs." 

Teedyuscung now spoke. — " You placed us at Shamokin 



conyngham's historical notes. 343 

and Wyoming — you have sold that land — I sit like a 
bird upon a bough — I look around and know not where 
I may take my rest — let me come down and make that 
land my own that I may have a home forever." 

Governor Denny. — " AVe will settle matters." 

Nichas spoke. — "Settle matters — those things are in 
the dark — place them in the light — the proprietaries 
have our deeds, show them to us and we will know our 
marks." 

Governor Bernard then said he had something to say. 

Tagashata said, " One Governor at a time — we will not 
hear both speak." 

A deed being produced — 

Nichas again spoke. — "This deed we remember — we 
sold the land — the land was our own — all things are 
right." 

A member of the Pennsylvania Council then observed — 
" Teedyuscung asks us to make yo\i owners of the lands 
at Wiomink and Shamoking — we have no power to sell 
those lands — your request shall be laid before the pro- 
prietary." 

Teedyuscung replied, " Onas will grant our request — ^we 
trust in him — we know him — he loves justice — we are 
satisfied." 

*^* The above is taken from a rough draught in the Office of 
the Secretary of the Commonwealth. 



344 contngham's historical notes. 



5. "Warriors of Oneida to the Chief "Warrior op 

Arahoctea, 1777. 

Sucknagearat, "White Skin, and Ojestatara, Grass- 
hopper : — 

"Good news — great news — the Enghsh warriors who 
were to have made a wide road through the woods have 
fallen into a deer trap — this is war — those who hold up 
their heads like the pine of the wood are soonest laid low 
by the storm — it is true — it is right — we rejoice, at makes 
glad our hearts." 

6. "Warrior of Onondago to the Chief "Warrior of 

Arahoctea. 

Tehewgweahten, chief warrior of Onondago : — 
" Your voice has come upon our ears — your belt has 
brought the good news — ^we rejoice in your success — the 
Enghsh were strong but now weak — we rejoice — we knew 
they would fall — he held up his head above our warriors 
— ^he treated our brothers with contem^^t — he told us 
what he would do — he laughed at our brothers as little 
men. 

" He sent his warrior to Fort Schuyler — they held up 
their heads too high — too high — Hhat they would 
trample all down before them, and at first sight of them 
the fort would vanish.' These high heads now lay low — 
pride is punished — it is right. 



contngham's historical notes. 345 

" Brothers, we have sent your belt of good news to the 
Cayugas and Senecas — it flies on feet and on horse — it 
spreads far — it will reach Niagara — brothers, we have 
done, we wish you success." 

These foregoing were made to General Gates, on hear- 
ing of the capture of General Burgoyne. 

7. Speech of Kiashuta, the Mingo Chief, at Fort Pitt, 
July Qth, 1776. 

"Brothers — I went to the great Council at Niagara — I 
was stopt at Cannywagoe — the General sent to the Eed 
Men not to come ' till he should come from Detroit' — eight 
hundred warriors were with me at Cannywagoe — news 
came to our ears the Council Fire had gone out, but we 
went to Niagara — I opened my mouth — I had come far — 
I was weary — he told me — he could not sit — he could 
not talk. — Brother — We will not let the English through 
our hunting-grounds — should they attempt it — we raise 
the tomahawk — we sharpen our knives — I command the 
west side of the Ohio — no white man shall cross our 
hunting-grounds — if any mischief be done — lay not the 
blame on the old wild cat of the forest — but on the active 
fawn — blame not the aged warrior who is still, but the 
young who is like a kitten." 

Kiaschuta then turned to Captain Pipe, a Delaware 
Chief— 

"Be strong — be Arm — be on your feet — darken not 



346 contngham's historical notes. 

your eyes — ^let them shine — throw not the tomahawk 

raise not the knife — let the whites cut the strino- of 

friendship— but until they cut it we will hold it fast we 

rejoice the Council Eire has not gone out — brother we 

desire to keep the hatchet buried — we desire peace I 

have had my talk — give me tobacco, I will sit and 
smoke." 



CONTRIBUTIONS 



THE MEDICAL HISTORY 



PENNSYLVANIA 



BY CASPAR MORRIS, M. D. 



Bead before the Medical Committee, 5th Month, 22d, 1826. 



(347) 



CONTRIBUTIONS, ETC. 



Although it is with feelings of diffidence I have 
ventured this evening to address you, I shall not attempt 
to apologize, since it is done in the hope to form a start- 
ing point, and encourage others, better qualified than my- 
self, to come forward, rather than from any expectation 
of being able to contribute materially either to your 
instruction or amusement. From the many subjects 
demanding investigation, which have been allotted to us 
by the Society, I have selected one which is involved in 
much obscurity, and have collected such facts in con- 
nection with it as circumstances have placed in my 
power. 

Considerable difficulty must, necessarily, attend any 
attempt to elucidate the early Medical History of this 
country ; as but few physicians capable of transmitting to 
posterity an account of the diseases they were obliged to 
encounter and the means found most effectual to their 
relief, would be willing to forego the comforts and advan- 
tages of civilized society, to plunge into the dangers and 
difficulties attendant on an attempt to people the Avilder- 

(349) 



' 350 morris's contributions 

ness, and bring the forest under cultivation : and though, 
from peculiar circumstances attending the settlement of 
this colony, Pennsylvania seems to have enjoyed the 
skill of several accomplished and well-educated physi- 
cians, I am not able to trace a single paragraph, now 
extant, in which they have attempted to detail either 
theory or practice, prior to the year 1740. It is true 
that the same rage for book-making did not then exist as 
at present, and no periodical journal offered its pages for 
short essays, such as men engaged in extensive practice 
can find time to compose : and most probably could we 
have access to private letters written to their friends at 
home, we might there find much information. For the 
facts contained in the following essay, I am indebted to 
traditionary report and notes made in desultory reading. 
From a letter kindly loaned me by my friend, Dr. James, 
received by him from John F. Watson, of Germantown, I 
have derived some hints with which he shall be credited 
as they are mentioned. Prior to the arrival of William 
Penn, in 1682, even tradition is pretty much silent; and I 
am not aware of there having been any regular practitioners 
of medicine among the Swedes.* Noah Webster, in his 
book on Pestilence, mentions that the winter of 1641 was 



* Among the Dutch on the Delaware, the names of two "practi- 
tioners of medicine" are mentioned in the early records ; but whether 
in our present acceptation of the term they were "regular practi- 
tioners," we are not able to say. 

Vice-Director Alrichs, writing on the 25th of May, 1657, from 
Fort New Amstel (now New Castle), to the "Commissioners of the 
Colonic on the Delaware," says, "Mr. Jan Costing, the surgeon, 
bath given in this annexed memorandum of necessary medicines, 



TO MEDICAL HISTORY. 351 

very severe; and that the Swedes, and a colony from 
New Haven, who had settled among them, suffered very 
much in the following summer, but does not say what 
was the disease. In 1647, they again suffered from the 
influenza, which passed from the northern to the southern 
extremity of this continent, and is the first epidemic of 
the kind mentioned in our history. "Such as bled, or 
used cooling drinks, died ; such as used cordials, or more 
strengthening things, recovered for the most part." In 
the month of June, 1655, the whole continent was again 



which, he says, will not amount to much. He requests that they 
will be sent out by the earliest opportunity."* 

In again writing to the same authorities, on the 10th of October, 
1658, f he states, "William Yan Rasenberg, who came over as 
Surgeon, puts forth sundry claims against the people whom he 
attended on the passage, inasmuch as his wages did not run at the 
time and on the voyage, and he used his own provisions. There 
were on board the ship considerable sickness, accidents, and hard- 
ships, in consequence of a tedious voyage. One hundred souls 
required at least a hogshead or two of French wine and one of 
brandy, and a tub of prunes had also to be furnished for refreshment 
and comfort to those sick of scurvy and suffering from other troubles 
through the protracted voyage ; for, from want thereof, the people 
became so low that death followed, which is a pretty serious matter. 
Here, on shore, I see clearly that the poor, weak, sick, or indigent, 
sometimes, have need necessarily of this and that to support them, 
which one cannot easily or will not refuse : though it be sometimes 
but a spoonful, frequently repeated it amounts to more than is sup- 
posed. The barber also speaks of a house which Master Jan occu- 
pied being too small for him ; he hath a wife, servant, and child or 
children also. If he hire, as he says, at the expense of the city, 
he shall be obliged to show a paper to that effect. People's words, 



* Documentary History of New York. Edited by E. B. O'Callaghan, M.D. 
Vol. II., p. 16. 
t Idem, 55, 



352 morris's contributions 

visited by the epidemic catarrh, which was followed by 
other fatal diseases. "In the year 1668," says Webster, 
"appeared a comet with a stupendous coma; this was 
attended by an excessively hot summer, and malignant 
diseases in America." 

With William Penn there emigrated two Welsh gentle- 
men, Thomas Wynne and Griffith Owen, who appear to 
have been regularly educated to the profession; and 
Wynne is said to have practiced in London. They were 
both members of the Society of Friends, and were much 
respected by their fellow emigrants: as we find them 
repeatedly noticed in the history of the times, and 
Wynne held the office of Speaker of the first Assembly 
of the freemen of the province. Some doubt exists as to 
whether they both located themselves in the city ; and I 



or what they verbally produce for their own profit, cannot be 
accepted." 

In a return for monies paid for the " Colonic," we find that between 
the 18th of JN'ovember, 1659, and the 3d of November, 1662, William 
Van Rasenberg, Surgeon in the Colonie, was the recipient of twelve 
hundred and thirty-eight florins, as salary; and Evert Pietersen, 
styled " Comforter of the Sick," &e., of fourteen hundred florins ; and 
Arent Pietersen, who bore the same title, of one hundred and fifty 
florins.* 

In 1658, Alrichs writes, " Our actual situation, which is certainly 
very distressing, by an ardent prevailing fever, and other diseases, 
by which the large majority of the inhabitants are oppressed and 
broken down, besides that our " barber" (surgeon) died, and another 
well acquainted with his profession, is very sick."f Probably Costing 
is referred to as having died, and Yan Rasenberg as having been 
sick. The latter was living in 1662, while the former, in 1660, is 
styled "late surgeon." — Editor. 



* W., 179. •}• Hazard's Annals, 247. 



TO MEDICAL HISTORY. 353 

am inclined to believe that Wynne accompanied his 
countrymen, who, allured by the resemblance which the 
tract of country now forming the townships of Merion 
and Haverford bore to their native hills, generally settled 
west of the Schuylkill. Though neither of them has left 
any account of his practice, we may be allowed the infer- 
ence, that with the exception of the occasional epidemics 
to be noticed, surgical, rather than medical skill, was had 
in requisition. Of one thing we are sure, that among the 
hardy sons of England's yeomanry, who had thus aban- 
doned the comforts of home for conscience sake, they met 
with few diseases the result of idleness or luxury. Gene- 
rally speaking, the colonists must have enjoyed good 
health, as we find Wynne taking an active part in 
politics, and Owen travelling in the neighboring colonies. 
The winter of 1697-8, seems to have been one of unusual 
severity, and the whole of the colonies again suffered from 
influenza ; which, to the north, put on the form (since so 
well known) of pneumonia typhoides. 

In the month of August, 1699, only seventeen years 
after the arrival of the proprietor and his first colonists, 
we find the city devastated by a malignant disease, which 
was productive of distressing mortality. It is noticed in 
the Journals of Thomas Chalkly and Thomas Story, 
Ministers of the Society of Friends. The latter was then 
on a religious visit to this colony, and soon after received 
the office of Master of the Rolls. He does not enter into 
any detail as regards the symptoms, but notices the 
number of deaths as at one time amounting to six or 

23 



354 morris's contributions 

eight daily.* The malignant nature of the disease may 
be judged of from the fact that friends from the country 
were advised to come as little as possible into the city, 
though the time for holding the semi-annual meeting 
occurred during its prevalence : and it is noticed by the 
pious narrator, as an evidence of the superintending care 
of Providence, that during the session of the meeting, 
which continued several days, " the plague was stayed." 
By Isaac Norris, then a merchant in Philadelphia, it is 
noticed in his correspondence as the " Barbadoes Distem- 
per j" though he says nothing of its being imported ; and 
the only sj^mptoms he mentions are vomiting and' voiding 
of blood. The summer had been the hottest ever known, 
men having died suddenly from the heat, in the harvest 
field. The disease commenced in the beginning of 
August, and abated about the 22d of October, in which 
time two hundred and twenty persons had died. Dr. 
Wynne had been dead some years, and the practitioners 
during its prevalence must have been his son-in-law, Dr. 



* Story, in his Journal, records the event in the following striking 
language : 

"In this distemper had died six, seven, and sometimes eight a 
day, for several weeks, there being few houses, if any, free of the 
sickness. Great was the majesty and hand of the Lord 1 Great was 
the fear that fell on all flesh 1 I saw no lofty or airy countenances, 
nor heard any vain jesting to move men to laughter, nor witty re- 
partee to move men to mirth, nor extravagant feasting to excite the 
lusts and desires of the flesh above measure. But every face 
gathered paleness, and many hearts were humbled, and countenances 
fallen and sunk, as such that waited every moment to be summoned 
to the bar and numbered to the grave." (Janney's Life of Penn, 
Ed. of 1852, p. 404.)— Editor. 



TO MEDICAL HISTORY. 355 

Edward Jones, who accompanied him in his emigration, 
and Dr. Griffith Owen, and perhaps his son, who com- 
menced practice about this time. Dr. Owen the elder 
Hved till the year 1717 : during the latter years of his 
life he seems to have relinquished the toils of practice to 
his son, and to have sought his pleasure in making short 
excursions with travelling ministers, who notice him in 
their journals with great respect. 

Connected, perhaps, as much with the present as any 
other branch of investigation, permit me here to notice a 
fact which has not, heretofore, claimed attention. Among 
the gentlemen accompanying William Penn on his first 
visit to this country was one of French extraction, who, 
proud to have descended from the family of the recluse 
of Port Royal, and to bear his honored name, had devoted 
his time and fortune to the study of the abstruse sciences, 
among others alchemy and astrology. Soon after his 
arrival, having provided himself with the requisite appar- 
atus, he commenced the vain pursuit after that which has 
deluded so many, {he Pliilosopher's Stone, and its neces- 
sary accompaniment, the Elixir Vitao. The result need 
not at this day be told; but among the simple inhabitants 
of Philadelphia he was regarded as one passing wise ; and 
his secluded habits, joined to the verification of some 
trifling predictions he ventured to make from reading the 
aspects of the stars, induced the supposition, with some, 
that he had made the dire com^pact: and such was the 
strength of this impression that his house was regarded 
as the haunt of unquiet spirits, which reputation it bore 
till within a few months, when it was destroyed to make 



356 morris's contributions 

room for more profitable tenants. His children kept an 
apothecary's store, in which they vended many articles 
the produce of their father's laboratory. About fifty 
years ago, an old man, who recollected the gentleman 
referred to, narrated to one of his descendants the forego- 
ing circumstances ; and, descanting largely on his benevo- 
lence, remarked, "Ah! but he could well afford to be 
generous ; for, what was money to him who could turn 
lead into gold ?" Upon being asked how he knew him to 
possess the power, he replied, " Surely he should know, 
since he had not only seen, but possessed, the gold so 
obtained." Here, however, as elsewhere, the time be- 
stowed on this vain pursuit seems not to have been 
thrown away ; for, in addition to the amusement it 
afforded to one placed above the necessity of manual 
labor, and the benefit derived from the useful products 
of his alembics, which, as before stated, were sold to the 
inhabitants, one of his sons, profiting by the knowledge 
derived from his father and his books, produced, if not 
the Elixir Vitae, a compound, styled " Golden Drops," as 
indicative of their value, to this day celebrated in some 
sections of the country ; and which, if we may credit one- 
third the stories told of it, has performed cures little short 
of miraculous ; and be the compound what it may, for it 
is still a nostrum in the possession of one of his descend- 
ants, is effectual to the relief of most diseases with which 
any members of the family, who have sufficient faith in 
its virtues, may be afilicted. In short, it is only cause of 
wonder that the court of death has not, ere this, been de- 



TO MEDICAL HISTORY. 357 

populated, by the annihilation of some of his chief agents 
in the work of destruction. 

About the time of the death of Dr. Owen, in 1717, the 
medical faculty was reinforced by the arrival of Drs. 
Kearsley and Graeme, who, with the son of Dr. Owen 
and Dr. Jones, son-in-law of Wynne, aided by some two 
or three empirics (who amassed considerable fortunes), 
formed, I believe, the sole defence of the city and its 
neighborhood against the inroads of disease. "Wearisome 
enough were the duties of these gentlemen, — the settle- 
ments wide scattered, the roads newly made, and the means 
of conveyance poor. Dr. Graeme seems to have possessed 
a large property. The house in which he is said to have 
resided must have been one of " the spacious and splendid 
mansions" mentioned by some of our older chroniclers. 
He occasionally retired to Graeme Park, a handsome seat 
in Bucks County.* Dr. Kearsley soon 'acquired the entire 
confidence of his fellow-citizens. During his life, he was 
active in procuring the erection of Christ's Church, one 
of the most venerable ornaments of our city ; and, at his 
death, in the year 1732, he founded and endowed the 
hospital for poor widows attached to the church. He left 
a nephew, also a physician, who became obnoxious to the 
resentment of the Whig Party, at the commencement of 
the Revolution, and was subjected to the cruel punish- 
ment of tarring and feathering, then occasionally resorted 



* For some notice of Doctor Graeme, see note at page 459.— 
Editor. 



358 morris's contributions 

to; which so affected hnn as to cause insanity, which 
continued till his death. 

Early in the eighteenth century, there emigrated from 
England to Boston, a gentleman of the name of Zachary, 
who shortly after died, leaving an only child, Lloyd 
Zachary, then quite a boy, to the care of his uncle who 
resided in Philadelphia, to which place he was removed, 
and where he acquired that education which enabled him 
not only to shine an ornament to his profession, but also 
to sustain a character unsullied by reproach. Upon the 
completion of his classical education, he was placed under 
the direction of Dr. Kearsley ; and, after acquiring all the 
medical information he could impart, sailed for Europe in 
the year 1723, where he spent three years, and returned 
to practice among his friends in Philadelphia. He was 
much beloved, and the interest he took in the hospital, 
of which he was first physician, is sufficiently indicative 
of his philanthropy. To it, whilst he was able, he 
devoted his time and talents, and at his death left it a 
handsome legacy in money and books, thus contributing 
to the establishment of one of the many noble charities 
for whicii our city is famed. For some ^^ears before his 
death he was afflicted with a paralysis, which carried him 
to an early grave much lamented. Cotemporary with 
these was the elder Shippen, who was born and received 
his entire education in this city, where he practiced during 
a long series of years. Nor must we pass in silence Dr. 
Thomas Bond, who, about the year 1734, emigrated from 
Maryland, fixed his residence in Philadelphia, where he 
soon acquired great reputation. He was associated with 



TO MEDICAL HISTORY. 359 

Dr. Zacliary in the care of the hospital, and delivering 
clinical lectures to the few students of medicine which the 
city contained at the time of its establishment. There 
still remains to be mentioned a gentleman who practiced 
at the time now under review, and who eminently de- 
serves the gratitude of all those who take pride in the 
scientific character of our city. I allude to Dr. Thomas 
Cadwallader, the grandson of Wynne. Not satisfied with 
the information to be gained at home from the instruction 
of Dr. Jones, he spent some years in Europe, where he 
matured the knowledge previously acquired, and fitted 
himself for the distinguished rank he afterward held in 
the city and its vicinity. The urbanity of his manners, 
and his uncommon presence of mind, gained him man\- 
friends, and form the subject of many anecdotes still 
current among the descendants of the Welsh families in 
which he practiced. In the year 1740, he published an 
essay on the iliac passion, in which he recommends the 
use of mild cathartics and opiates, in preference to the 
drastic articles then generally employed. Unfortunately 
this, which is the first book on a medical subject printed 
in America, is now out of print, at least so far that I 
have been unable to procure a copy ; and I am indebted 
for the knowledge that it ever existed to an oration de- 
livered before the Charleston Medical Society, by the late 
Dr. Ramsay. But his claims to our respect do not rest 
here. Having, as before noticed, resorted to the Euro- 
pean schools for the perfection of that education com- 
menced under the auspices of Dr. Jones, he learned the 
inestimable importance of anatomical knowledge j and 



360 morris's contributions 

superior to that petty jealousy and desire to excel his 
fellow practitioners, which has too often cast a blot on 
the fair escutcheon of medicine, he resolved to impart the 
knowledge of the human structure to such of them as had 
not enjoyed the same opportunity with himself. To this 
end, he took a house, which, from the location given to it 
by tradition, must have belonged to that distinguished 
patron of science, James Logan, in which he gave lessons 
in practical anatomy. Among others who availed them- 
selves of this opportunity was the elder Shippen, and it is 
most probable that he here acquired those ideas of the 
importance of the study, which induced him 'to press 
upon his son the propriety of making himself master of 
the science, in order to the establishment of those lectures 
he afterward so ably delivered. 

The city seems occasionally to have suffered from the 
prevalence of natural small-pox, and consequently some 
means for arresting its ravages early claimed attention ; 
and, in 1731, inoculation was fairly introduced, after 
having struggled against the fears and prejudices of the 
people during nine years. Many attempts were made 
during this time to overcome the opposition, but ineffect- 
ually. Newspaper essays, and even sermons, were pub- 
lished, denouncing the practice as irreligious — evidencing 
a distrust of the care of Providence. J. F. Watson, in 
his MSS., quotes the sermon of a gentleman of the name 
of Maskelyne, in which he calls it "an unjustifiable art, 
and an infliction of an evil, implying a distrust of God's 
overruling care, to procure a possible future good." About 
the year 1730, it seems, however, to have triumphed, and 



' TO MEDICAL HISTORY. 361 

we find Kearsley, Zachary, Cadwallader, Sliippen, and 
Bond engaged in the practice. 

J. Growden, Esq.,"^ was the first patient of note who 
gave it his countenance, by submitting to have the virus 
inserted into his own system j and the first visit paid by 
the ex-president Jefferson, then a lad, to our city, was in 
order to receive the variolous infection, and he lodged in 
a small cabin on the bank of the Schuylkill, while labor- 
ing under the disease.f 

In the year intervening between December, 1729 and 
'30, there were interred in the city two hundred and 
twenty-seven persons of various sects. An account of the 
number of births during the same period would be an 
interesting document. 

In February, March, and April, 1727, there appears 
from the bills of mortality to have been an unusual 
number of deaths, though I have not been able to find 
any reference to the prevalent disorder; and in 1732 the 
wliole country again suffered from epidemic catarrh ; in 
1736-7 the city was afflicted by the occurrence of ulcer- 
ated sore throat. 

Some time in the year 1740, Dr. Graeme was appointed, 
by the governor, physician to the port, and was required 
to attend the crews of unhealthy vessels. In the follow- 
ing year Dr. Zachary was appointed to the same station 
by the Assembly. This gave offence to the governor and 
council, who confirmed the former appointment of Graeme, 
and forbade Zachary to act. 

* Watson's MSS, f Ibid. 



362 morris's contributions 

The winter of 1740-41 was very severe, and the suc- 
ceeding summer the city was visited by a disorder which 
Noah Webster calls the American plague, and Dr. Bond 
says was yellow fever, but supposes it to have been intro- 
duced by a sickly ship-load of convicts from the Dublin 
jail. Previous to this it had been the practice to dis- 
tribute sick emigrants among the inhabitants, at whose 
houses they received that attention their forlorn situation 
demanded. In this way, jail or ship fever was frequently 
communicated to the families with which they were quar- 
tered (or it was so thought at the time), and about this 
time a " Peste house " was erected on League Island.* In 
1747 Webster says the city again was visited by the 
" Bilious Plague," preceded by influenza, which very fre- 
quently prevailed over the whole continent. 

The citizens frequently suffered from bilious remittent 
fevers, particularly while the dock remained open. This 
was a creek, running from near the centre of the city plot 
to the Delaware, following the course of Dock street ; and 
was navigable at high tide so far as Chestnut and Fourth 
streets. At low water, however, its muddy bed was left 
exposed to the sun, and emitted a most noxious effluvium ; 
and Dr. Bond asserts that fewer ounces of bark were 
taken after its closure than pounds before. As a pre- 
ventive and cure for miasmatic diseases and their sequelae, 
Dr. Bond lauds highly the mild chalybeate waters which 
abound in the neighborhood of the city; and by his 

* Watson MSS. [This is a mistake ; it was erected on Province, 
afterwards called Slate Island, at the mouth of the Schuykill. — 
Editor.] 



TO MEDICAL HISTORY. 363 

directions they were much resorted to, both by convor 
lescents and those who wished to escape the " bleaching 
ague." Many facetious stories are told of the impositions 
that were practised upon those who, too unwell to walk 
to the springs out of the city, were directed to particular 
wells as possessing equal virtues. These springs seem 
early to have claimed attention, and were thought by the 
first settlers to equal the most celebrated spas of Europe. 
So early as the year 1722, the one now known as the 
Yellow Spring, in the Great Valley, was discovered, and 
much resorted to. There was one in the neighborhood 
of the Wind-gap in the Blue Mountain, which on the 
early maps of the State was called the Healing Spring, 
and marked by the representation of a number of tents 
pitched round it. There was another, situate near Bris- 
tol; and in the Watson MSS. one is noticed, situate near 
where the Globe Mill now stands, which received the 
patronage of William Penn, who caused accommodations 
for visitors to be erected, and hoped to see a village collect 
round it, which in anticipation he named Bath.* 

Having thus sketched a few rough notices of such facts 
as have come to my knowledge in reference to the Medical 

* These were probably the waters to which Penn alludes in his 
letter to the Free Society of Traders, 16th 6th mo., 1683. 

" 3. The waters are generally good ; for the rivers and brooks have 
mostly gravel and stony bottoms, and in numbers hardly credible. 
We have also mineral waters, which operate in the same manner, 
with those of Barnct and North Hall, not two miles from Philadel- 
phia." 

Those who may feel curious on the subject of the mineral springs 
in Pennsylvania, we refer to "Watson's Annals, I., 489, Ibid, II., 
463. — Editor. 



364 morris's contributions, etc. 

History of the Province, prior to the year 1750, I now 
submit them to your consideration, in the hope, as before 
stated, to ehcit further information. Our subsequent his- 
tory may be more easily determined, and should not some 
one more competent to the task step forward, shall form 
the subject of a future communication from the author of 
the preceding. 



NOTICES 

OF 

NEGRO SLAVERY, 

AS 

CONNECTED WITH 

PENNSYLVANIA. 
BY EDWARD BETTLE. 



Read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 8th mo. 
m, 1826. 



(865) 



NOTICES, ETC 



We trust we shall not indulge hopes too sanguine, if 
we should now anticipate, that by the united labors of 
our Society, Pennsylvania will receive that illustration of 
her annals, character, and resources, which has so long 
been due to a State whose history in many important 
features is unique, and whose moral conduct exhibits 
lessons the most instructive, and examples the most 
encouraging, of active practical benevolence, and the posi- 
tive application of the principles of Christianity to the 
administration of human affairs. 

When we look at the history of Pennsylvania, as ex- 
hibited in the various important advances made by her 
citizens towards meliorating the condition of the oppressed 
and injured of the human race, and the relief of the 
miseries which crime has brought upon our species, our 
recollections are far more exalted and enduring than if 
we could boast our descent from the most illustrious 



* For a short biographical notice of Mr. Bettle, see Appendix, 
Note III. 

(367) 



368 bettle's notices of 

warriors and lieroes whose names have been emblazoned 
on the historic -page. 

A century and a half have now nearly elapsed since 
the great sage and lawgiver of Pennsylvania landed on 
her shores, and gave the first impulse to that spirit of 
Christian philanthropy which has ever since continued, 
amid the wars and miseries of the old world, to shed its 
light and diffuse its warmth from the sanctuary of our 
native soil ; and it is not the mere vaunt of egotism or 
the idle declamation of a contracted mind to assert, that 
from the humble and unpretending efforts of this youth- 
ful member of the commonwealth of nations have arisen 
many of those plans of benevolence which are now adopted 
and zealously prosecuted by the most enlightened philan- 
thropists of all countries. 

The axiom, that the object of all good government is 
the freedom, order, and happiness of the governed, is now 
considered so self-evident and undeniable, that we may 
hardly be able sufficiently to appreciate the great merit 
of "William Penn in proclaiming the sound and compre- 
hensive doctrines contained in his charter, bill of rights, 
and great law, at a period when the most profound states- 
men held and promulgated far different ideas of the true 
and proper constitution of government. 

In contemplating the character of Penn and his noble 
views and plans of melioration, we perceive for the first 
time an attempt to found a government upon the basis of 
practical Christianity, desiring no other end than the 
welfare of those who might live under its happy influence ; 
we find a man the personal friend and acquaintance of a 



NEGRO SLAVERY 369 

despotic prince, and under a charter obtained from liim 
founding a government recognizing the equal rights of all 
its citizens, educated in times of religious intolerance and 
persecution, and himself a severe sufferer for conscience 
sake, when invested with power, granting to such as 
differed from him in sentiment, nay, even to his oppressors, 
perfect freedom of religious opinion and practice. 

We find him who was educated in a country where a 
sanguinary code of laws made the awful doom of death 
the indiscriminate punishment for the petty thief and the 
deHberate murderer, and at a time too when such a 
change was certain to be pronounced a visionary innova- 
tion, advocating and adopting that system of graduated 
and mitigated punishments which has since received the 
sanction of the wisest and best of his successors. 

Sound judgment, comprehensive and enlarged policy, 
unbroken faith, and unsullied probity, formed in her early 
days the prominent characteristics of Pennsylvanian 
government; and, much as they may have been aber- 
rated from, by many of her succeeding rulers, the 
influence of this early examjDle has been powerfully 
operative upon her character and actions from that day 
to the present. 

It is, however, beside our object at this time to 
expatiate upon the conduct of Penn and his coadjutors, 
in the prosecution of the ennobling designs to which we 
have alluded ; our view is simply to show that from a 
government and people recognizing such principles and 
doctrines, and, in the midst of darkness and ignorance, 
displaying such vivifying light and knowledge, we might 

24 



370 bettle's notices of 

rightfully expect to see a cordial and active support 
of all measures calculated to relieve the miseries of 
mankind. 

Under this view of the character of the founders of our 
State, we might with safety anticipate that humane sym- 
pathy, that powerful and impressive precept, and that 
prompt and active exertion in relation to the oppressed 
sons of Africa, which it is the object of the present sketch 
briefly to delineate ; and we propose now to consider the 
exertions of Pennsylvanians previously to the year 1770, 
and to make her subsequent history, from that time to the 
present, the subject of another memoir. 

It is not necessary in this State to urge arguments to 
show the total hostility of slavery to Christianity, reason, 
and the unalienable rights of mankind ; but it behooves 
every Pennsylvanian to speak forth his honest abhor- 
rence boldly, and his manly indignation loudly, into 
those ears which are professedly open, but it is feared 
virtually and practically shut, to the appeals for liberty, 
right, and justice, of a large portion of the inhabitants of 
a country whose Constitution is founded upon the prin- 
ciple that liberty and the pursuit of happiness are un- 
alienable rights which we receive from God, and of which 
no earthly power can ever rightfully dispossess us : and 
we trust it will be shown that, as Pennsylvania early 
stood forth as an advocate of this deeply-injured class of 
humanity, so will she now, from the known opinions of 
her citizens, from her local situation, and from her moral 
influence in our confederacy, be compelled to take a 
decided and prominent attitude, and to proclaim and sup- 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 371 

port the sacred rights of man, regardless of the ridicule 
of the unprincipled, or the mercenary calculations of 
those with whom human flesh and sinews, and tobacco, 
cotton, and sugar, are equally legitimate objects of traffic. 
How can ive, as citizens of the United States, remain 
silent, unconcerned spectators of an American slave-trade 
within our borders, in our capital city, the boasted centre 
of free government, — a traffic, the wretched objects of 
which are bred for sale as regularly as horses and cattle, 
and whose treatment whilst on their way to market and 
when in the field of labor is scarcely upon a par with our 
beasts of burden. This is no highly wrought picture of 
gone-by days, but the hourly experience and practice of 
the present time. 

Upon a comjDrehensive view of the subject, we think it 
may be asserted boldly, and without fear of contradiction, 
that the worst slavery, the most total prostration of the 
rights of man, and the most entire degradation of the 
image of God, are exhibited in the bondage of the 
negroes. This is the slavery which is not only practiced 
and tolerated, on the plea that it is an entailed and un- 
avoidable evil, but is absolutely defended in the House of 
Representatives of the freemen of the United States, as 
being consistent with Holy Scripture, and with the mild 
religion of our Redeemer. Negro slavery has been com- 
pared to the bondage of the Hebrews and Romans ; but 
there is no parallel, scarcely a remote analogy between 
them. The slavery of the Hebrews was as the submis- 
sion of sons to their fathers ; the slaves formed part of 
one common household, of which the patriarch was the 



372 bettle's notices of 

kind paternal head; they labored in common with his 
own offspring, they tended his flocks with his own sons 
and daughters, they were protected by special ordinances 
of the Jewish law, and at the expiration of fifty years, 
there was a manumission of all slaves, and every one was 
entitled to land and money from their masters : and, in 
addition to this, there was that most important of all 
differences, viz., that Hebrew slavery was not hereditary. 
Even this mild kind of bondage extended no further than 
to those who were actually purchased by the master; 
their offspring were free, and instead of the heart-sicken- 
ing certainty of the American slave, that the oppression 
under which he suffers will be perpetuated, perhaps in an 
aggravated form, to his latest posterity, the Jewish bonds- 
man saw in prospective for Jiis offspring liberty, and per- 
haps honor and happiness. Among the Romans, if a 
slave exhibited talents and became distinguished for his 
mental powers, he generally obtained his freedom; and 
many of the most illustrious poets, statesmen, and 
warriors of Rome were freedmen.* To compare then the 
kind and paternal government of the Hebrew slave, his 
certain prospect of obtaining an honorable freedom, or 
the hope of the Roman servant, who felt within his 
breast the energies and ambition of a powerful mind, to 
that dull, heartless, and oppressive reality, which sits like 
an incubus upon the breast of an American slave, that 
never to him shall the light of freedom dawn, or the 
present abjectness of his condition be changed for his 

* See Stephens' Slavery of British West India Colonies, Vol. I., 
pp. 43, 44, b1, 64, &c.— Editor. 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 373 

rightful station among the inhabitants of the earth ; to 
comj^are the two prospects together, is to contrast the 
occasional overcast of bright day with the impenetrable 
gloom of starless midnight, or to equal the whispers of 
hope to the sullen silence of despair. To hear such argu- 
ments as these proceeding from the source whence they 
have emanated, is a bad omen ; it looks like a deliberate 
design not to meliorate, and finally by degrees to abolish 
the evil, but rather, in the face of former professions, to 
perpetuate forever this open and palpable infringement 
of the very unction and spirit of our free institutions. 
"We affect great sympathy for enslaved Spain, we profess 
much commiseration for degraded Italy; nay, we even 
reprobate the Holy Alliance, for not undertaking a 
crusade in favor of the quondam land of science and of 
song, and are almost ready ourselves to assist in driving 
the barbarians from her soil: but what avails this pro- 
fession ? Do not all our vaunts of republicanism and free 
government amount to sheer mockery and insult to the 
name of religion, justice, and liberty, so long as a large 
number of the States of our confederacy continue the 
American slavery and slave-trade. 

We are well aware that this is a subject of a momentous 
nature, fraught with difficulty and embarrassment, and 
eminently deserving calm, dispassionate, and mature con- 
sideration ; and we would be very far from recommending, 
nay, even desiring, the immediate abolition of slavery — 
in proportion to the magnitude of the evil will be the 
tardiness and difficulty of its eradication — but we do 
insist that no excuse whatever can be made for tlie hreed- 



374 bettle's notices of 

ing system, for the American slave trade, arid for the e.r- 
tension of slavery to new and uncontaminated soils, for the 
total deprivation of the. negroes hy law of literary, moral, 
and religious instruction, and that the State governments 
are bound to take some prospective measures, however 
sloiv in effect and remote in final execution, to clear our land 
from so foul a stain on the national character. 

We frequently hear from those engaged in slavery 
strong expressions of abhorrence of the practice, and 
great desires for the abolition of the evil. It is believed 
that in many instances these professions are true and 
sincere, and we rejoice in the existence of such" feelings; 
but we think we may be allowed to question their general 
verity, when we see, even in those States where there is 
least excuse for the permanent continuance of the evil, 
an anxious desire to defile with slavery new portions of 
our territories, and a steady adherence to their former 
cruel and degrading policy, without one solitary prospec- 
tive glance at melioration, or one act which has the most 
remote bearing upon its abolition, but rather an increasing 
disposition to quench inquiry and discussion upon the 
subject. We shall not, however, at present, say more on 
these points, but proceed to our narrative. 

In order to give a clear idea of the relative period at 
which slavery was first opposed in Pennsylvania, it may 
perhaps be proper to take a cursory review of the origin 
of the African slave trade, and of the opposition it encoun- 
tered up to the year 1688. 

The infamy of being the first who brought the mis- 
erable sons of Africa as slaves from their native soil 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 375 

attaches itself to the Portuguese, who, as early as 1481, 
built a castle on the Gold coast, and from thence ravaged 
the countrj^, and carried off the inhabitants to Portugal, 
where they were sold into bondage.* In 1503 slaves were 
first taken from the Portuguese settlements in Africa to 
the Spanish possessions in America ; and from that time 
to 1511, large numbers were exported to the colonies of 



* " Guinea supplied black slaves to the Moors of Africa, to redeem 
their countrymen made prisoners by Alfonso Y. of Portugal: this 
first originated the slave trade in 1442. Commences in West Indies, 
1511 ; in Virginia, 1620 ; first effort for its abolition made by Gran- 
ville Sharpe, 1772; petition of the London Common Council against 
it, Feb. 1, 1188; resolution of the Commons to take it into consider- 
ation in the next session, May 9, 1788 ; motion of Wilborforce against 
it lost, March 17, 1791; its gradual abolition voted, April 20, 1792; 
motion of Wilberforce negatived, April 3, 1798 ; Canning's attempt 
to prohibit it in Trinidad fails. May 27, 1802 ; the act for its abolition 
receives the royal assent, March 25, 1807." — Bosse^s Index of Dates, 
Bohn's Library, Articles, "Guinea," and "Slave Trade." "To the 
honor of Denmark be it spoken, the slave trade was abolished by her 
five years before England performed that act of tardy justice to 
humanity." — Twelve Months^ liesid. in W. Indies, by R. R. Madden, 
M. D., vol. ii., 128. 

"At length, in the year 1279, Magnus became King of Sweden, 
and the eleven years of his reign, with thirteen of that of his son — 
during which the government, on account of his minority, Avas con- 
ducted by an able minister — formed the period of the greatest 
improvement in its earlier history. * * * His son Birger being but 
eleven years old when he succeeded to the throne, the government 
was administered by a regent, during thirteen years, with wisdom 
and vigor; and in the interval it was enacted,* among other legis- 
lative reforms, that no man should thenceforward be bought or sold." 
Miller's Fhilosojihy of History, vol. ii., 355, Bohn's edition. — Editor. 



* "The influence of Christianity in producing this ordinance appears from the 
reason assigned in the law, that it was not just that one Christian should sell 
another, since Jesus Christ had purchased all with his blood."— i'w/f«rf., p. 109. 



376 bettle's notices of 

Spain by permission of King Ferdinand V. After his 
death, the proposal was made to the Regent of Spain, 
Cardinal Ximenes, by Las Casas,* Bishop of Chiapa, to 
establish a regular commerce in African slaves, under the 
plausible and well-intentioned, but fallacious pretext of 
substituting their labor in the colonies for that of the 
native Indians, who were rapidly becoming exterminated 
by the severity of their labor and the cruel treatment of 
their Spanish masters. To the immortal honor of Car- 
dinal Ximenes, he rejected the proposition on the ground 
of the iniquity of slavery itself in the abstract, and also 
the great injustice of making slaves of one nation for the 
liberation of another. The Cardinal appears, therefore, 
to have been the first avowed opponent of this traffic in 
men.f 

* It is said that Las Casas' proposal was first acted on in Cuba in 
1523-4, at which time three hundred negroes were introduced from 

Spain. — Ayiswers of Senor , of Havana, to Questions addressed 

by B. R. Madden, M. D., London, 1840. But Bancroft (vol. i., p. 
169) says that it was not Las Casas who first suggested the plan of 
transporting African slaves to Hispaniola. There is no doubt, how- 
ever, that such a proposal was made by him. See the documents 
brought to light by Quintana. The proof is so full, from his own 
writings and other authentic documents not difficult of access, that it 
would be quite out of place, and would take too much space, even to 
refer to them here. — Quintana, vol. iii., p. 467, as cited by Madden. 

f " It is in vain to deny that Las Casas committed this most 
lamentable error (his suggestion in favor of the importation of African 
slaves into Cuba), as many have asserted, and amongst others, the 
Abbe Gregoire. Quintana has produced the original documents in 
which this suggestion is made by Las Casas ; but they who claim 
Las Casas for an advocate of the slave trade are little aware that he 
himself, heartily repenting of his proposal, condemns it in his own 
history (lib. iii., chap. 101), and in his own words: 'Because they 
(the negroes) had the same rights as the Indians,' 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 377 

After the death of this prelate, the emperor, Charles V., 
in 1517, encouraged the slave trade, and granted letters 
patent for carrying it on ; * but he Hved to see his error 
and most nobly renounced it, for he ordered and had 
executed a complete manumission of all African slaves in 
his American dominions. About this time Pope Leo X. 
gave to the world this noble declaration : " That not only 
the Christian religion, but nature herself cried out against 
a state of slavery." In the year 1562, in the reign of 
Ehzabeth, the English first stained their hands with the 
negro traffic : Captain, afterwards Sir J. Hawkins, made a 
descent on the African coast, and carried away a number 

" When the Episcopal dignity was conferred on him, on reaching 
his see, the first use he made of his pastoral power was to deny the 
sacraments to all those who held slaves and refused to give them up, 
and those who bought and sold them. * * * In the latest pro- 
duction from the pen of Las Casas he confesses the grievous fault he 
had fallen into, and begs for the forgiveness of God in the most con- 
trite terms, for the misfortunes he had brought on the poor people of 
Africa by the inadvertence of his counsel, and this confession (says 
his historian) of his error, so full of candor and contrition, should 
disarm the rigor of philosophy, and hold his benevolent disposition 
absolved before posterity. Let him, whose philanthropy is without 
fault, and whose nature is superior to error, cast the first stone at the 
memory of the venerable Las Casas." — Poems by a Slave in the 
Island of Cuba, and to which arc prefixed two pieces descriptive of 
Cuban slavery and the slave traffic, by K. R. Madden, M. D., London, 
1840, pp. 152, 155.— Editor. 

* "In 1511 Charles granted a patent to one of his Flemish favor- 
ites, containing an exclusive right of importing four thousand negroes 
into America. The favorite sold his patent to some Genoese mer- 
chants for 25,000 ducats, and they were the fi7'st: who brought into a 
regular form that commerce for slaves between Africa and America, 
which has since been carried on to such an amazing extent." — 
Robertson, I. p. 321. — Editor. 



378 settle's, notices of 

of the natives, whom he sold to the Spaniards in His- 
paniola ; and, although censured by the queen, it appears 
that he still continued to prosecute the trade * The 
French commenced this business about the same time, 
although Louis XIII. gave the royal sanction with re- 
luctance, and only when soothed by the delusive pretext 
of converting the Africans to Christianity. In 1645 a 
law was passed by the General Assembly of Massachusetts, 
prohibiting the buying and selling of slaves, except those 
taken in lawful war or reduced to servitude for their 
crimes by a judicial sentence; and these were to have 
the same privileges as were allowed to Hebrew slaves by 
the law of Moses.f In 1713 the Legislature of Massa- 
chusetts imposed a heavy duty on every negro imported 
into the State. 

The next in order amongst those worthy and enlight- 
ened men, who were the very early opponents of slavery, 
is the founder of the Society of Friends, George Fox. 
This pious Christian visited Barbadoes in 1671, and whilst 

* See Holmes' Annals, I., p. 101, where he refers to Hakluyt, I., 
pp. 521, 522, for an account of this voyage. Hawkins says Stow 
(Chron. 801, quoted by Holmes) died in 1595, " as it was supposed 
of melancholy." — Editor. 

f In this year a i-emarkable instance of justice to a negro, in exe- 
cution of this law, occurred in Massachusetts. He had been fraudu- 
lently taken and brought from Guinea, was demanded of the pur- 
chaser by the Government, and the Court "resolved to send him 
back without dela3^" Perhaps this circumstance has led our author 
into the error of fixing this year as the date of this Act. It was part 
of the hundred laws, called the Body of Liberties (Winthrop's Jour- 
nal, 231), established by the General Court of Massachusetts, in 
1041.— See Holmes' Annals, I., 311, 335. Edition of 1805, and the 
authorities cited. — Editor. 



NEGRO SLAYER T. 379 

there advised such of his brethren as held slaves to teach 
them the principles of religion, treat them mildly, and 
after certain years of labor set them free* 

Contemporary with George Fox was William Edmund- 
son, who was a worthy minister of this society, and who 
also was a fellow traveller with Fox in Barbadoes.f 
Being brought before the Governor, on the charge of 
teaching the negroes Christianity, and thereby causing 
them to rebel and destroy their owners, he made an 
answ^er which we quote entire, — as it strongly shows that 
the same kind of clamor against giving negroes instruc- 
tion which at present exists ujDon the same plea, that it 
would be inconsistent with the safety of their masters, 
has existed from the very beginning; and the answer 
which this worthy man gave to the slaveholders of that 
day is admirably adapted to those of the present time.J 
In reply to the charge recited above, he says, " That it 
was a o:ood thino; to brino; them to the knowledo-e of God 



* Further particulars respecting George Fox's advice concerning 
slaves, will be found in a series of papers prepared for the " Friend," 
by Mr. Nathan Kite, entitled " Antiquarian Researches among the 
early Printers and Publishers of Friends' Books," Vol. XYII. — 
Editor. 

f Edmundson twice visited Barbadocs, once in IG'Zl, and once in 
1675. It was during his second visit that the events referred to in 
the text occurred. — Gough's History, III., 61. Edmundson's Jour- 
nal, p. 85, Edit, of lTt4. — Editor. 

I " The earliest instances of such inconsistent persecution was in 
the Island of Barbadoes, in the year 16*76, and to the honor of that 
truly amiable sect of Christians, the Quakers, their charity and 
liberality furnished the first opportunity for it by their singular and 
probably then unprecedented attempt to impart their own religion to 
the negroes." — Stephens' Slavery of West Indies, I., 234. — Editor. 



380 settle's notices of 

and Christ Jesus, and to believe in him who died for 
them and all men, and that this would keep them from 
rebelling and cutting any person's throat ; but if they did 
rebel and cut their throats, as the Governor insinuated 
they would, it would be their own doing in keeping them 
in ignorance and under oppression, in giving them liberty 
to be common with women like brutes, and on the other 
hand in starving them for want of meat and clothes con- 
venient; thus giving them liberty in that which God 
restrained, and restraining them in meat and clothing."* 

In 1673, Richard Baxter, and, in 1680, Morgan God- 
wyn, both clergymen, wrote forcibly against slavery .f 

From 1680 to 1688, it does not appear that any pubUc 
opposition to slavery was made; and, as the last-men- 
tioned year was an important era in the history of Penn- 
sylvania, as connected with this subject, we shall now 
proceed to embody the comparatively scanty and imper- 
fect materials which we have been able to collect. Soon 
after the first settlement of Pennsylvania, a few slaves 
were introduced from the West Indies ; and the practice 
was in some degree tolerated by Friends, as well as the 
other early settlers of the province, on the pretence of a 

* After the Quakers, " The Moravians, that humble and zealous 
sect of Christians, next entered on this desolate field. They sent 
missions to the Antilles so early as 1T32, and prior to '1787 had 
resident ministers in Antigua, St. Christopher, Barbadoes," &e. 
{Stephens^ Slavery of West Indies, I., 237.) He quotes a planter as 
follows : " Since the Moravians have been established at St. Croix 
the treatment of the negroes has been more humane. The masters 
are very glad to have them go to the Moravians." — Editor. 

■|" Godwyn also published a supplement to his " Negroes' and 
Indians' Advocate," in the following year. — Editor. 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 381 

scarcity of laborers. The number imported, or the 
precise mamier in which they were introduced, we have 
not been able to learn ; the evil, however, soon became 
so obvious and increasing, as to excite the attention of 
the Society of Friends ; and we may here remark that in 
the succeeding pages we shall often have occasion to 
notice the labors of this body of Christians. To the 
influence of their precept and example, to their moral 
weight in the community, and the untiring zeal and 
activity with which they prosecuted this work of bene- 
volence, are mainly to be attributed the abolition of 
slavery in Pennsylvania. 

About the year 1682, a number of persons of this 
society emigrated from Krieshiem, in Germany, and 
settled themselves in Pennsylvania; and to this body 
of humble, unpretending, and almost unnoticed philan- 
thropists belongs the honor of having been the first asso- 
ciation who ever remonstrated against negro slavery. In 
the year 1688, they presented a paper to the Yearly 
Meeting of Philadelphia, then held at Burlington, as 
appears by a minute of that meeting, protesting against 
the buying, selling, and holding men in slavery, as incon- 
sistent with the Christian religion.* The Yearly Meeting 
then determined" that, as the subject had reference to the 
members of the society at large, before resolving defini- 

* " A paper being here presented by some German Friends con- 
cerning the lawfulness and unlawfulness of buying and keeping 
negroes ; it was adjudged not to be so proper for this meeting to 
give a positive judgment in the case, it having so general a relation 
to many other parts, and therefore at present they forbear it." — 
Extract from the Minutes. 



382 bettle's notices op 

tively on any measure, time should be allowed for its 
mature consideration. 

We have used many endeavors to obtain a copy of this 
highly interesting document; but are sorry to believe 
that neither the original nor the copy is in existence.* 
We cannot, however, pass from this paper without paying 
a small tribute of admiration and gratitude to these early 
and dignified friends of human freedom and happiness. 

With the information now so generally diffused in 
regard to the total hostility of slavery to religion and the 
rights of man, we cannot perhaps fully appreciate the 
enlightened views and clear discernment, which enabled 
these humble individuals to proclaim doctrines and prin- 
ciples so much in advance of the received opinions of the 
age ; for at that time, as has been before remarked, negro 
slavery was a far less appalling and extended evil than 
at present. Even by many philanthropists it was 
esteemed rather a blessing than a curse, and was encour- 
aged on the plausible pretence of meliorating the con- 
dition of the Africans themselves, by imbuing them with 
Christianity, and dispelling their mental darkness and 
gloom ; and, by the comparative 'mildness of their treat- 
ment, some countenance was given to these delusive 
opinions. In the midst then of mitigating circumstances, 
did these worthy men, taking the abstract principles of 
right and wrong for their guide, and possessing a manly 
sense of the rights of their fellow creatures, proclaim to 
the world that, while .they emigrated to enjoy their own 

* See note on page 412, at the end of this article. — Editor. 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 383 

liberty, they were willing to extend its blessings uni- 
versally. 

In 1696, several papers from tbe subordinate meetings 
having been read, the Yearly Meeting, after deliberation, 
issued this advice, — " That Friends be careful not to 
encourage the bringing in of any more negroes ; and that 
such as have negroes be careful of them, bring them to 
meeting, and have meetings with them in their families, 
and restrain them from loose and lewd living, as much as 
in them lies, and from rambling abroad on first days." In 
this year also, George Keith and his friends, who had 
seceded from the Quakers, published a paper on the 
subject, containing some very sound and cogent argu- 
ments. They asserted that the negroes were men, the 
common objects, with the rest of mankind, of redeeming 
love ; that they had been taken by violence from their 
native land, and were unjustly detained in bondage; and 
finally, that the whole institution of slavery was con- 
trary to the religion of Christ, the rights of man, and 
sound reason and policy. 

The next efforts in favor of the negroes were made by 
the founder of our State.* A mind so liberal, expansive, 
and benevolent as his could not be indifferent to a subject 
of this highly interesting character; and, from the first 
introduction of slaves into Pennsylvania, he appears to 
have been desirous of improving their condition. Accord- 
ingly, in 1700, he introduced the subject to the monthly 

* For an interesting review of Penn's opinions upon slavery and 
the growth of his convictions upon the subject, see Dixon's Life, pp. 
301, 302: Phila. Ed., 1851.— Editor. 



384 bettle's notices of 

meeting of Philadelphia, and the following minute was 
made by that body, viz. : — 

" Our dear friend and governor having laid before this 
meeting a concern that hath lain upon his mind for some 
time, concerning the negroes and Indians, that Friends 
ought to be very careful in discharging a good conscience 
towards them in all respects, but more especially for the 
good of their souls, and that they might, as frequent as 
may be, come to meetings on First Days ; upon consider- 
ation whereof, this meeting concludes to appoint a meet- 
ing for the negroes, to be kept once a month, &c., and 
that their masters give notice thereof in their own .families, 
and be present with them at the said meetings as frequent 
as may be." 

These resolutions having been adopted without diffi- 
culty by his own immediate friends, he proceeded in his 
work of benevolence, and endeavored to secure a proper 
treatment of slaves among all descriptions of persons by 
a legislative act. As a preliminary to further measures 
he was anxious to improve their moral condition, and by 
degrees to fit them for Uberty and happiness ; and accord- 
, ingly introduced into the Assembly a bill " for regulating 
negroes in their morals and marriages," and also a bill 
" for the regulation of their trials and punishments." To 
the great astonishment and chagrin of the worthy governor, 
the first of these bills was negatived, and his humane 
intentions for the present defeated.* 

This unexpected result is attributed by Clarkson, in 

* " His latest action in the colonial legislature was in behalf of the 
poor negroes." — Dixon's Life of Penn, p. 330. — Editor. 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 385 

his Life of Penn, to various reasons, viz. : the hostility 
which then prevailed in the Assembly to all projects 
emanating from the executive — the jealousies which 
existed between the province and territories — the influx 
of emigrants of a lower tone of moral feeling than the 
first settlers of the colony, and the diminution of Quaker 
influence in the Assembly; the executive council, com- 
posed wholly of members of this society, having concurred 
with Penn in proposing the bill. 

The same causes appear to have been in operation for 
several years after ; and we accordingly find a degree of 
severity and rigor in the legislative enactments of 1705, 
entirely at variance with the humane policy of Penn 
and with the benevolent laws of a very few years later 
date. 

The law of 1705 was entitled "an act for the trial and 
punishment of negroes." The act provided that negroes 
convicted of heinous crimes, such as murder, manslaughter, 
burglary, rape, &c,, should be tried by three justices of 
the peace and six freeholders of the vicinage ; that the 
punishment of death should be awarded to such oflences ; 
that any negro convicted of carrying arms without his 
master's consent, should, on conviction before a magis- 
trate, receive twenty-one lashes; and finally, that not 
more than four negroes should meet together without 
their master's permission, on the penalty of receiving any 
number not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, on conviction 
before one justice of the peace. This law was intended 
as a substitute for William Penn's act of 1700, for the 
" trial and punishment of negroes." In this same year a 

25 



386 bettle's notices of 

law was passed to prevent the importation of Indian 
slaves, under penalty of forfeiture to the governor ; and 
also a bill laying a duty on all negroes imported into the 
province. In 1710 a law of similar character was en- 
acted. 

In 1711 the Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia, on a 
representation from the Quarterly Meeting of Chester, 
that the buying and encouraging the importation of 
negroes was still practised by some members of the 
sopiety, again repeated and enforced the observance of 
the advice issued in 1696, and further directed all mer- 
chants and factors to write to their correspondents and 
discourage their sending any more negroes. 

This year also is memorable in the annals of Pennsyl- 
vania, on account of the passage of a bill entitled, "An 
act to prevent the imjportatmi of iwgroes and Indians into 
tlm province'' 

We have not been able to obtain a sight of this highly 
important and interesting document. It is doubtful in- 
deed whether a copy of it is in existence, as it was 
repealed in England, directly after its passage, by an 
order of council. The loss of such a law is the more to 
be regretted, as it evinces a striking alteration of temper 
and feeling in the Legislature since the enactments of 
1705, a change which can only be attributed to the 
exertions of the friends of freedom, and the influence of 
more enhghtened public opinion; and as a further evidence 
that the minds of many of the citizens of Pennsylvania 
were alive to this interesting subject, and anxious to 
prevent the further growth and increase of what they 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 387 

began already to experience as a serious evil, we find, in 
1712, that, undismaj-ed by the repeal of the non-importa- 
tion law of the preceding year by the court of England, a 
petition, " signed by many hands," praying for a duty to 
discourage the further importation of negroes, was pre- 
sented to the Assembly, and after mature consideration, a 
bill laying the then enormous duty of twenty pounds per 
head was passed, which well-intentioned and effective law 
shared the same fate in the English council as the act of 
1711. We may here take occasion to observe, that all 
the designs of the early legislators of Pennsylvania to 
improve the condition of her citizens, and to substitute, 
for the oppressive policy of the old world, a more free, 
humane, and happy condition of things in the new, were 
rendered void through the repeal, by English orders of 
council, of all such laws as had these noble and excellent 
designs in view. This circumstance will account for the 
little subsequent notice taken of the subject by the Legis- 
lature of our State, with the exception of a few laws, 
which we shall soon mention, from this period up to 
1770. Our intervening history will be principally con- 
fined to the exertions of the Society of Friends and of 
private individuals. 

In 1712, a petition was presented to the Assembly by 
William Southeby,* praying for the total abolition of 
slavery in Pennsylvania; on consideration, the House 



* William Southeby had been a resident of Maryland, and a 
Roman Catholic. In 1696, he wrote papers against slavery. A 
sketch of his life, by Mr. Nathan Kite, will be found in XXYIII. Yol. 
of "The Friend," pp. 293, 301, 309.— Editor. 



388 bettle's notices of 

decided that the prayer of the petitioner could not be 
granted. In the years 1715-17-21-26 and 29, different 
laws were passed, laying duties on negroes ; these, with 
a bill of 1725-6, entitled an act for the better regulating 
of negroes in the province, are all the notices of the sub- 
ject that we have been enabled to find on the votes of 
the Assembly up to 1761. The hostility of the English 
government to any supposed encroachment on the trade 
of the country, even in human flesh, appears to have been 
sufficient to prevent any further attempts to abolish this 
cruel traffic. Though the law of 1725-6, for the better 
regulating the negroes, contained some harsh provisions, 
it provided that the existing duty on negroes should be 
increased to 101. per head; the third section obliged a 
master, on manumitting his slave, to give security that 
he should not become chargeable to the county ; the fifth 
section enacted that no minister or magistrate should 
marry a negro with a white person under penalty of 
100?., and that no negro be more than ten miles from 
home, without written permission from his master. 

In 1761, we find the last effort made to check the 
importation of slaves previous to 1770. In this year, 
remonstrances were presented to the Assembly from a 
large number of the inhabitants of Philadelphia, repre- 
senting the mischievous effects of the slave-trade, and 
praying for such an increase of the duty on negroes as 
might effectually check further importation. After much 
debate in the House, and altercation with the Governor, 
a bill increasing the impost was passed. In 1768, this 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 389 

bill, having expired by its limitation, was re-enacted. 
Thus much for the acts of Assembly.* 

To return to an earlier period. In the year 1712, the 
Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia addressed an epistle to 
the Yearly Meeting of Friends in London, stating that 
for a number of years they had been seriously concerned 
on account of the importation and trade in slaves, and of 
the detention of them and their posterity "in bondage 
without any limitation or time of redemption from that 
condition;" that the meeting, by its advice, had en- 
deavored, and in some degree succeeded in discouraging 
the traffic ; yet, that as " settlements increased so other 
traders flocked in among them over whom they had no 
Gosj)el authority," and that the number of negroes was 
thereby greatly increased in the province ; they desired 
that the London Yearly Meeting would consult with 
Friends in the other colonies who were more engaged in 

* The following is a list of all the Acts, prior to the Revolution, 
and is somewhat fuller than that in the text. They are those of 

1705, mo-ii, 1112, ni5, niT-18, 1*120, 1122, 1Y25-6, 1129, nei, 

IY68, and 11*73, — which last was made perpetual. 

The Acts of date subsequent to 1705, are but modifications of the 
one of that year; for, when through the bigoted policy of the 
mother country, a repeal took place, another, so soon as expediency 
allowed, was passed by the Assembly. The objection on the part of 
the superior authorities was not because of the spirit of some of the 
provisions of the Acts, which might have been better, but sprang 
from a determination to force upon the Province an institution to 
which it was averse. 

Our author mistakes in supposing a law was passed in 1711 ; that 
to which he alludes, but regrets he has not seen, was the one of 
1712, of the main feature of which he seems to have been aware. 

A fuller reference to these enactments will be found in a note, at 
p. 415. — Editor, 



390 bettle's notices of 

slaveholding than those in Pennsylvania; that in this 
matter of so general imjDortance, a union of opinions and 
practice might be obtained; and further desiring the 
advice and counsel of English Friends in the case. These 
requests were acceded to, as appears by the epistle from 
Pennsylvania to London, in 1714; which states, that 
they kindly received the advice of English Friends upon 
the subject, and were one in opinion with them, " that 
the multiplying of negroes might be of dangerous conse- 
quence," and that, therefore, a law was obtained in Penn- 
sylvania, imposing a duty of 20?. a head upon all 
imported, but the queen had been pleased to disannul it ; 
that they heartily wished that some means could be dis- 
covered of stojDping the further importation, and desired 
the influence of the society in England with the govern- 
ment there, to endeavor to prevail on the queen to sanc- 
tion such further anti-slavery laws as the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania might adopt. They further stated that 
they did not know of any Friend who was concerned in 
importing negroes from Africa, and concluded by desiring 
the Yearly Meeting of London to continue its advice and 
assistance to Friends in the other slaveholding colonies. 
In 1715 and 16 and 19, advice was issued by the Yearly 
Meeting of Pennsylvania, strongly urging that Friends 
should not only decHne importing, but also purchasing, 
when imported, any slaves; and that those who had 
them in possession, should treat them with "humanity 
and a Christian spirit," and endeavor to instruct them in 
morality and the principles of religion.'^ 

* For the several protests of the English Friends, against the 
importation and holding of slaves, from 1726 to 1161 inclusive, see 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 391 

The next laborer in behalf of the negroes whom we 
shall have occasion to notice, is Ralph Sandiford. He 
was descended from a respectable family in Barbadoes, 
and was educated as a member of the Episcopal Church, 
by a pious tutor, probably in Great Britain. On emigrat- 
ing to Pennsylvania, he joined the Society of Friends, 
and soon began to direct his attention towards the con- 
dition of the black population. He rejected many advan- 
tageous propositions of pecuniary advancement, as they 
came from those who had acquired their property by the 
oppression of their slaves, and appears to have been very 
earnest and constant in his endeavors to prevail both on 
the members of his own religious society, as Avell as his 
friends generally, entirely to relinquish the practice of 
slaveholding. In 1729, he appeared as a public advocate 
of the blacks, by pubHshing a work, entitled " The 
Mystery of Iniquity, in a Brief Examination of the 
Practice of the Times," which he circulated at his own 
expense wherever he deemed it might be useful. We 
have never read the essay, but the author is represented 
to be a man of talents and unquestioned probity, and the 
work as every way worthy of him. In the words of 
Clarkson, " it was excellent as a composition. The lan- 
guage was correct. The style manly and energetic, and 



" Extracts from the Minutes and Advices," &c., printed by James 
Phillips, in 1783; and an Epistle, in 1763. — Annual Epistles from 
the Yearly lleeting in London, p. 273. Baltimore, 1806. 

In this year, 1718, appeared "An Address to the Elders of the 
Church," by William Burling, strongly condemnatory of slavehold 
ing. "The same year," says Benjamin Lay, " I was convinced of 
the same ' hellish practice.' " — Editor. 



392 settle's notices of 

it abounded with facts, sentiments, and quotations, wliicli, 
while thej showed the virtue and talents of the author, 
rendered it a valuable appeal in behalf of the African 
cause." For some expressions in reference to his breth- 
ren, which he suiDposes would be considered severe, he 
apologizes, bj saying that they were wrung from him by 
his intense feeling of the magnitude of the oppression, 
with which he was sometimes so impressed that " he felt 
as if the rod had been upon his own back."* 

In 1730-35-36 and 37 the Yearly Meeting of Phila- 
delphia was informed by some of its subordinate branches, 
that though the imj^ortation of negroes had beeh aban- 
doned by members of the Society, yet that some still per- 
sisted in huying them when imported : the meeting, there- 
fore, in these respective years, issued advice enforcing the 
minutes made upon the subject on former occasions, and 
strongly recommending to the Monthly Meetings (who 
are the executive departments of the Society) to be 
diligent in cautioning and admonishing such of their 
members as might give cause of offence. In 1737 the 
Quarterly Meetings were directed to furnish in their 
reports at the next Annual Meeting a succinct statement 
of the actual practice of their members in this respect. 
In 1738, in answer to this requisition, and also in the 
years 1739 to 1743, it appeared that the members who 
continued to purchase slaves were constantly decreasing. 

We shall next notice that early, honest, but over-zealous 



* See the interesting memoirs of Sandiford and Lay, by Roberts 
Vaux. 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 393 

opponent of the bondage of men, Benjamin Lay/=' He was 
an Englishman by birth, bronght up as a seaman, and 
after pursuing that occupation for several years, settled in 
Barbadoes; but the wretchedness and misery which he 
there witnessed, and the heart-rending scenes of cruelty 
and oppression, of which he was a daily observer, so 
affected his sensitive mind as to induce him, a few years 
afterwards, to quit the Island and emigrate to Pennsyl- 
vania. Here he likeivise found the evil he so much 
shunned and abhorred, but in a far different and much 
mitigated form. He regarded slavery, however much 
disguised and qualified, still as a "bitter draught," and 
reprobated the practice with the same zeal and license of 
language w^liich he had used in attacking West India 
bondage; and from his eccentricity of manner and too 
great w\armth of expression, he is thought to have been 
less useful and influential than he otherwise might have 
become ; yet he was a man of a strong and active mind, 
of great integrity and uprightness of heart, and one who 
no doubt acted from what he conceived to be the dictates 
of his conscience ; hence we can most justly forgive his 
intemperate words and actions, and regard him as an 
early, honest, and active friend of oppressed humanity. 

In 1737 he published his treatise "on slave-keeping," 
a work evincing talents and considerable force of ex- 



* In the xxix. vol. of " The Friend " will be found sketches entitled 
Early Anti-Slavery Advocates, prepared by Mr. Nathan Kite. These 
embrace the lives of William Burling, Ralph Sandiford, and Benjamin 
Lay ; in which last two some errors into which their former biographer 
has inadvertently follen will be found corrected. — Editor. 



394 settle's notices of 

pression, though hable to the objections to which we have 
above adverted. This essay he distributed gratuitously, 
and was particularly anxious to have it introduced into 
schools, in order to awaken the sympathies of those who 
were about entering into active life. 

He also solicited and obtained interviews upon the 
subject of slavery with the governors of several of the 
States ; and, in short, to the time of his death, which 
occurred in 1760, in his 80th year, he was constant and 
untiring in his labors. 

In 1754 the Yearly Meeting of Pennsylvania printed 
and circulated a letter of advice to its member^?, remind- 
ing them of its often expressed and well known will upon 
the subject of buying slaves, and urging some cogent 
arguments to show the anti-christian nature of the traffic, 
and the awful responsibility that those masters were 
under who neglected to guard the morals of their slaves, 
and to imbue their minds with religion and virtue. It 
may be found at length in Clarkson's History of the Slave 
Trade. 

In 1755, finding that, in opposition to the reiterated 
advice of the body, some of its members continued to 
persist in bujdng negroes, the Yearly Meeting made a 
rule of discipline directing that such persons as adhered 
to the practice, after suitable admonition by their Monthly 
Meetings, should be disowned from the religious com- 
munion of the Society. 

Having thus prevented the further increase of slaves 
by purchase, the Society was desirous of advancing still 
further towards a complete eradication of slavery from 



NEGRO SLAVERY. • 395 

amongst its members. Accordingly, in 1758, it was unani- 
mously agreed that Friends should be advised to manumit 
their slaves, and show their sen^e of gratitude to the 
Divine Being, from whom they received the liberty which 
they so freely enjoyed, by extending this blessing to all 
their fellow-creatures; and John Woolman and others 
were appointed a committee to visit such Friends as held 
slaves, and endeavor to prevail on them to relinquish the 
practice. This committee, it appears from the minutes 
of the Yearly Meeting, continued to prosecute their work 
of benevolence during the years 1758-59-60 and 61 — 
and from their reports, these Christian endeavors were 
crowned with much success, many being induced to 
cleanse their hands from the stain of slave-keeping. The 
Yearly Meeting constantly continued its attention to this 
subject to the year 1776, when it was enacted that all 
Friends who refused to manumit their slaves should be 
disowned by the Society. A more particular account of 
this noble act we reserve for our succeeding essay on this 
subject. 

We are next called upon to notice one of the most 
pious and indefatigable laborers in the cause of freedom 
and human happiness whom the Society of Friends ever 
produced, viz., John Woolman. This excellent man was 
born in the State of New Jersey, in the year 1720, and 
at a very early age was distinguished for his attachment 
to religion ;'•' Avhicli so increased and strengthened in after- 



* " Before I was seven years old, I began to be acquainted with 
the operations of divine love." — Woolman^s Journal. — Editor. 



396 settle's notices of 

life, that we think it may be safely asserted that, for self- 
denial, purity of manners and conversation, firm, con- 
sistent and persevering prosecution of duty, and zealous 
and enlightened benevolence, he has rarely been equalled, 
and perhaps never excelled. 

He appears very early in life to have had his mind 
engaged in reflection upon the subject of slavery. Soon 
after he attained the age of twenty-one years, being hired 
as an accountant, he was directed by his employer to 
write a bill of sale for a negro, which, in obedience to his 
instructions, he did, though, as he himself says, not with- 
out great uneasiness of mind, and that he afterwards 
found it to be his duty to inform his master and the pur- 
chaser of the slave that " he believed slavekeeping to be 
a practice inconsistent with the Christian religion ;" and, 
on a subsequent application by another individual to pre- 
pare an instrument of writing of a similar kind, he 
entirely refused, alleging the foregoing conviction as his 
excuse. 

In 1746, he travelled as a minister of the Society of 
Friends, through the provinces of Maryland, Virginia, 
and North Carolina, where it appears that his mind was 
again engaged and his feelings excited, and that he took 
occasion during the journey to communicate his convic- 
tions on this deeply-interesting subject to many of the 
inhabitants. He says, he "saw in these southern pro- 
vinces so many vices and corruptions increased by this 
trade and this way of life [viz., the whites living idly and 
luxuriously on the labor of the blacks], that it appeared 
to him as a gloom over the land." 



NEGRO SLAYERT. 397 

In 1753, he published the first part of his "Considerar 
tions on Keeping Negroes,"* in which he insists on the 
rights of the negroes as children of the same Heavenly 
Parent with their masters, and that slavery is repugnant 
to the Christian rehgion. 

In 1756, he made a religious visit to Long Island, and 
was much engaged with members of his own society to 
prevail on them to release their slaves. Hitherto he had 
only acted as circumstances casually came in his way, but 
now he appeared in the character which he continued 
until his death to support, of an active and untiring 
laborer in this righteous cause. 

In the year 1757, in company with his brother, he 
engaged in an arduous journey through the southern 
colonies, in order to convince persons, principally of his 
own society, of the wickedness and impohcy of slavery. 
He sought opportunities of friendly conference with indi- 
viduals, and urged his arguments with calmness and 
modesty, and, at the same time, with dignity and firm- 
ness ; and also in the meetings for discipline of his own 
society, he was indefatigable in pressing the subject, and 
had the satisfaction of finding that by some he was 
kindly received, and of perceiving a disposition in others 
to adopt his views. 

We have before noticed that he was appointed by the 
Yeai'ly Meeting of Philadelphia, in 1758, one of a com- 
mittee of that body for discouraging slaveholding amongst 

* " Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, Recom- 
mended to the Professors of Christianity of every Denomination." — 
First printed in lt53-4.— Editou. 



398 bettle's notices of 

its members ;* and as he had been very instrumental in 
producing this appointment, so he was also indefatigable 
in discharging the duties it required ; and, in this year 
and the subsequent one, he made several journeys into 
various parts of Pennsylvania for the promotion of this 
object. In the year 1760, he travelled into Khode Island, 
on a similar errand, and also visited the Island of Nan- 
tucket.f In 1761, he visited some famihes in Pennsyl- 
vania and New Jersey. In 1762, he published a second 
part of his " Considerations on Slavekeeping." 

This essay is written with considerable ability and 
force of expression, and is well worthy of peruSal at the 
present day. He urges the rights of the slaves to their 
freedom in common with the rest of mankind ; shows the 
debasing and demoralizing effect which the institution of 
slavery in any country produces on both masters and ser- 
vants, and the fallacy of comparing negro slavery to the 
condition of the Jewish bondsmen; and concludes by 
reciting some testimony to illustrate the abominable char- 
acter of the African slave-trade. J 

In 1767,§ this apostle of freedom travelled again in 
Maryland, and again urged his enlightened opinions. In 

* Daniel Stanton, John Scarborough, and John Sykes were his 
fellow visitors to those Friends who had slaves, in 1758. John 
Churchman and Samuel Eastburn, in 1759. — Editor. 

•f On this visit, he was accompanied by his "beloved friend," 
Samuel Eastburn. — Editor. 

J This pamphlet he published at his own expense, although his 
friends " offered to get a number printed to be paid for out of the 
Yearly Meeting stock, and to be given away." His reasons are 
characteristic. — See his Journal, p. 136. Edition of 1775. — Editor. 

§ 1768. Journal, p. 188.— Editor. 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 399 

1772, he embarked for England, and whilst there, en- 
deavored to induce the society of which he was a member 
to interfere with the government of England on behalf 
of the oppressed Africans. 

The time, however, had arrived when this faithful 
laborer was to be released from his arduous service, and 
to receive in the mansions of eternal rest the reward of 
his works. He died in the city of York, England, of the 
small-pox, in 1772, aged fifty-two years.* 

Contemporary with Woolman was th^t pious and ex- 
cellent friend of the human race, Anthony Benezet, — a 
man who combined, in an eminent degree, shining 
virtues, excellent talents, and indefatigable industry; 
who lived and labored with the most well-directed assi- 
duity for the good of all mankind, and who died regretted 
by those, and they were not few in number, who had seen 
and known and admired his long career of useful practical 
benevolence. 

He was born in France, of respectable parents of the 
Protestant profession, in the year 1713, who, at the revo- 
cation of the Edict of Nantz, removed with their inflmt 
son into Holland, and shortly after into England. An- 
thony here received a liberal education, and served an 
apprenticeship in an eminent mercantile house in London. 
Having joined himself in membership with the Society of 
Friends, m 1731 he emigrated to Philadelphia, which was 
from that time the permanent place of his residence. In 
1736, he married, and turned his attention to establishing 

* "Get the writing of John Woolman bj heart; and love the 
early Quakers." — Charles Lamb. — Essays of Elia. — Editor. 



400 settle's notices of 

himself in business. With respect to this subject, his mind 
appears to have been much unsettled ; not, as is generally 
the case, anxious to resolve on the profession which might 
yield the greatest pecuniary emolument, but much more 
concerned how he might devote his time and talents to 
the service of his Creator and the advancement of the 
happiness of his fellow creatures. At the age of twenty- 
six, he believed it to be his duty to assume the arduous 
engagement of an instructor of youth. After teaching a 
short time in the Academy at German town, in 1742 he 
accepted of the office of English tutor in the " Friends' 
Pubhc Schools in Philadelphia," in which situation he 
continued for twelve years, much to the satisfaction of his 
employers. In 1755, he opened a school on his own 
account for the instruction of females ; and, by the excel- 
lence of his moral and literary tuition, and his peculiar 
fitness for this interesting duty, it long continued to be 
one of the best patronized and most highly useful semi- 
naries of Philadelphia. 1 

About the year 1750, according to the account of his 
highly respected biographer,* his attention appears to 
have been first engaged upon that important subject 
which afterwards engrossed so large a portion of his time 
and talents. His feehngs having become deeply inter- 
ested on account of the oppressed and degraded condition 
of the blacks, the first essays which he made were of that 
practical kind so highly characteristic of the man. Being 
impressed with the importance of meliorating, in the first 

* Roberts Vaux. /> 



KEGRO SLAVERY. 401 

place, their mental condition, he imposed on himself, in 
addition to the laborious duties of his own school, the 
task of giving in the evenings gratuitous instruction to 
the negroes of Philadelphia ; and he had the great satis- 
faction to discover, by the improvement of his pupils in 
literature, as well as their moral advancement, that the 
hitherto long asserted idea of their mental inferiority to 
the rest of mankind was fallacious and illusory.* 

Having excited in the minds of his fellow-citizens an 
increased interest and sympathy for this oppressed people, 
he proceeded to make more public the results of his 
reflections and experience. His first writings consisted 
of small pieces in the almanacs and newspapers of the 
day, which medium he selected as best adapted to engage 
all classes of people in favor of his benevolent designs. 
In 1762 he pubhshed "An account of that part of Africa 
inhabited by the Negroes." In 1767, "A Caution and 
Warning to Great Britain and her colonies on the calami- 
tous state of the enslaved Negroes." This work was 
examined and approved by the Society of Friends in 
Pennsylvania, as appears by the minutes of meetings of 
the representatives of that body, held in 1766, at whose 
expense a large number of copies were printed and sent 
to England for distribution. 3d. "An Historical Account 
of Guinea, its situation, produce, and the general dis- 
position of its inhabitants ; . with an inquiry into the rise 



* The same enlightened views were held by John Bartram, who 
has done so much honor to Philadelphia in other ways. As one of 
the earliest anti-slavery champions he deserves mention in this 
place. — Darlin(jton's Mevi. of John Bartram, pp. 41, 54. — Editor. 

26 



402 settle's notices of 

and progress of the slave trade, its nature and calamitous 
effects."* 

This book is remarkable for having given to the vene- 
rable Thomas Clarkson some of the first definite informal 
tion with regard to facts, which enabled him practically 
to commence his long career of activity and usefulness ; 
and we cannot do better than to give Clarkson's character 
of the work in his own words : 

" This pamphlet contained a clear and distinct develop- 
ment of the subject from the best authorities. It con- 
tained also the sentiments of many enlightened men upon 
it ; and it became instrumental, beyond any other book 
ever before pubhshed, in disseminating a proper know- 
ledge and detestation of this trade." 

With such limited pecuniary means as the occupation 
of school-keeping afforded, Benezet distributed large num- 
bers of these valuable and instructive books; he sent 
copies of the Historical Account of Guinea to some of the 
most eminent men in Europe, accompanied with a circular 
letter, written in a simple and unadorned, yet forcible 
and convincing manner ; in addition to this, all the time 
he could command from his regular occupations was 
employed in an extensive correspondence with such per- 
sons as he thought might be interested in promoting the 
cause to which he was so unceasingly devoted. Amongst 
those whom he addressed at different times were the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Fothergill, Granville Sharp, 
the Abbe Raynal, John Wesley, George Whitfield, the 

* London, 1172. 8vo. — Editor. 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 403 

Countess of Huntingdon, and Charlotte, Queen of England. 
He also made an appeal in behalf of the negroes to the 
Queens of France and Portugal. 

"We cannot, perhaps, better illustrate his diligence and 
the extent and variety of his engagements than by 
quoting the words of his intelligent biographer. He 
remarks : 

"It was characteristic if one day he were seen sur- 
rounded by the sable children of Africa, imparting advice 
and deriving information from them concerning the cruel- 
ties the}^ had suffered, and the next engaged in composing 
essays on the subject; addressing letters to friends and 
strangers, from whom he hoped some aid could be obtained ; 
or, with an innocent boldness worthy of his office, spread- 
ing the cause of the poor negro, in the language of warn- 
ing and persuasion, before statesmen and sovereigns." 

These great, and in a degree, effective exertions, were 
sedulously continued during the whole course of his long 
life; the two last years of which were devoted to the 
tuition of negroes, in a free school founded and endowed 
by the Society of Friends. 

A review of the extent and variet}^ of his efforts, 
the personal exertions which he used, the constancy as 
well as zeal with which he pursued the investigation and 
exposure of every branch of the subject, we think entitles 
us to adopt the short but full eulogium which Clarkson 
pronounces respecting him. "Anthony Benezet," says he, 
" may be considered as one of the most zealous, vigilant, 
and active advocates which the cause of the oppressed 



404 bettle's notices of 

Africans ever had. He seemed to have been born and to 
have lived for the promotion of it; and,' therefore, he 
never omitted any the least opportunity of serving it." 

His active mind also embraced many other objects of 
benevolence. He was deeply impressed with the anti- 
Christian tendency of war, and its hostility to the happi- 
ness of mankind, and wrote several able tracts on the 
subject; and also corresponded thereupon with many 
distinguished characters. His private charities were 
numerous and unostentatious. In short, it appears to 
have been the primary concern of his life to imitate, 
according to his ability, the example of our Holy 
Redeemer, in constant acts of benevolence and good will 
to mankind. 

With all these good works there was connected one 
remarkable trait of his character which beautified and 
adorned all his other excellencies, and that was his great 
humility. Shortly before his death he uttered these ex- 
pressions : " I am dying, and feel ashamed to meet the 
face of my Maker, I have done so little in his cause." 
He also desired an intimate friend to prevent, if possible, 
any posthumous memorial of him ; and added, " If they 
will not obey this wish, desire them to say, 'Anthony 
Benezet was a poor creature, and through divine favor 
was enabled to know it.' " 

This distinguished philanthropist died in 1784, in the 
seventy-first year of his age, after bequeathing the little 
fortune he had accumulated by industry and economy to 
the overseers of Friends' Public Schools, that it might be 
appropriated to the education of the blacks. 



NEGRO SLAVERY. 405 

We have now closed our notice of the efforts of Penn- 
sylvania in behalf of the negroes, antecedent to the year 
1770; and haye shown, we trust, that our forefathers 
were active and ardent laborers in the righteous cause of 
human freedom and happiness. We propose, in a future 
essay, to exhibit the further history of our State, as con- 
nected with this subject, up to the present time. 

The lamented writer reserved for another Memoir the history, sub- 
sequent to 1Y70, of slavery in Pennsylvania. We do not propose to 
complete the task, yet believe our duty will not have been fulfilled 
without some further reference to the subject. 

The good seed sown by the honest German Friends in 1688 did 
not perish, for what great truth ever has? The abolition of slavery 
continued to be agitated without, however, any immediate results. 
What a peaceful policy could not effect w^as at last accomplished by 
the Revolution ; * so then, as now, political convulsion hastened the 
development of events, that otherwise might have been a score of 
years in ripening. Thus is history ever repeating itself 

On the 9th of November, 1778, George Bryan, the Vice President, 
in his message called the attention of the Assembly to the subject, 
and said, " the late Assembly was furnished with the heads of a bill 
for manumitting infant negroes, born of slaves, by which the gradual 
abolition of servitude for life would be obtained in an easy mode. It 
is not proposed that the present slaves, most of whom are scarcely 
competent of freedom, should be meddled with, but all importations 
must be forbid, if the idea be adopted. This or some better scheme 
would tend to abrogate slavery, the opprobrium of America, from 
among us ; and no period seems more happy for the attempt than the 
present, as the number of such unhappy characters, ever few in 
Pennsylvania, has been much reduced by the practices and plunder 
of our late invaders. In divesting the State of slaves you will 
equally serve the cause of humanity and policy, and oflcr to God one 
of the most proper and best returns of gratitude for his great deliver- 
ance of us and our posterity from thraldom : you will also set your 

* Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, by his grandson, William B. Reed, 
vol. ii., p. 173. 



406 



NOTES. 



character for justice and benevolence in the true point of view to all 
Europe, who are astonished to see a people eager for liberty holding 
negroes in bondage." 

Again, on the 5th of February, 11*79, we find that President Reed 
called the attention of the Assembly to the subject, and on the 9th 
of September in the same year, in a message to the House he said : 
" We would also again bring into your view a plan for the gradual 
abolition of slavery, so disgraceful to any people, and more especially 
to those who have been contending in the great cause of liberty 
themselves, and upon whom Providence has bestowed such eminent 
marks of its favor and protection. We think we are loudly called on 
to evince our gratitude, in making our fellow men joint heirs with us 
of the same inestimable blessings, under such restrictions and regu- 
lations as will not injure the community, and will imperceptibly 
enable them to relish and improve the station to which they will be 
advanced. Honored will that State be, in the annals of history, 
which shall first abolish this violation of the rights of mankind, and 
the memories of those will be held in grateful and everlasting remem- 
brance, who shall pass the law to restore and establish the rights of 
human nature in Pennsylvania. We feel ourselves so intei'ested on 
this point, as to go beyond what may be deemed, by some, the proper 
line of our duty, and acquaint you that we have reduced this plan to 
the form of a law, which, if acceptable, we shall in a few days com- 
municate to you."* 

The auspicious day at length arrived. The work of the friends of 
human liberty in Pennsylvania was at last completed, and on the 1st 
of March, 1180, an act was passed for the gradual abolition of 
slavery. 

The preamble of the Act, one of the noblest compositions on 
record, and the act itself, were from the pen of George Bryan. 

Slavery from this began gradually to disappear, as will be seen 
from an official document of the Department of State, at Wash- 
ington. f 



In 1190 there we 
1800 " 
1810 " 
1820 " 
1830 " 



3,131 slaves. 

1,106 " 
195 " 
211 " 
386 " 



* Idem, 173; Penna. Archives, vii. 79; Journal of House of Rep., 307, 364. 
f Hazard's Register, vol. xvi. 120. 



NOTES. 407 

That this population, after having, from 1190 to 1820, steadily 
diminished, should, between the latter period and 1830, have in- 
creased, arrested the attention of our Legislature, and at the session 
of 1833 a committee was appointed by the Senate — of which our 
late venerable member, Mr. Samuel Breck, was chairman " to in- 
vestigate the cause of increase, and report by bill or otherwise."* 
The committee remark, " that so large an addition to a class of our 
population, which we had every reason to believe was nearly ex- 
tinguished, has excited considerable attention, even beyond the limits 
of our commonwealth, and has become in some degree a reproach to 
the State. Our neighbors in New York and citizens of other States 
have asked, through the medium of the public prints, how it happens 
that, while slavery has almost ceased to exist in the States north and 
east of us, the land of Penn, which took the lead in emancipation, 
and contains so many citizens of distinguished philanthropy, so 
many associations formed expressly for the promotion of abolition, so 
many friends of the African race, always on the watch to detect 
abuses, and ever eager to aid in correcting them, should exhibit an 
increase of slaves?" 

By the law of 1180 it was in effect enacted, that the children of 
all negroes and mulattoes, held to servitude, born within the State 
after the 1st of March, 1780, should be held to service until the age 
of twenty-one, and no longer ; and one of the causes of the increase 
the committee found arose from a misconstruction of the Act in some 
of the counties of the State, by which the grandchild of a registered 
slave was held to the same term of service as the mother, whom the 
law had pronounced free at twenty-eight, an error which was cor- 
rected in 1826 by the Supreme Court. Another cause, as stated by 
the committee, was that "negroes of all ages are brought in con- 
siderable numbers into the southwestern counties, bordering on Yir- 
ginia, and emancipated on condition of serving a certain number of 
years, seldom exceeding seven, unless they happen to be mere 
children. About half the usual price of a slave is paid for this 
limited assignment ; at the expiration of which the individual obtains 
entire freedom, both for himself and such of his children as may be 
born in Pennsylvania." The committee were therefore not disposed 
to recommend any measure that might disturb the usage, as such a 
course would shut the door of philanthropic Pennsylvania to those 
who, from motives of humanity and interest, might wish to grant 

* Hazard's Register, vol. xi. 158. 



408 NOTES. 

manumission to their slaves, and from investigation they were of the 
opinion that 67, instead of 386, constituted the number of slaves 
existing in 1830. 

We have remarked that George Bryan was the author of the Act 
of 1*780, abolishing slavery in Pennsylvania. It has, however, been 
stated that it was the current report at the Bar, at the beginning of 
the present century, and at the close of the last, that the late William 
Lewis was its draughtsman. To us, it seems that no one can read 
Mr. Bryan's Message to the Assembly, already quoted, and the 
Preamble to the Act, without being struck with a similarity in 
sentiment and style. His feelings had long been deeply concerned 
for the welfare of these poor creatures ; and, as the first who officially 
suggested abolition, common opinion, if expressed at all upon the 
occasion, would, as a matter of course, have pointed to him as the 
proper person to draught the bill, nor are the terms and character of 
its clauses such as that any one, thoroughly skilled in legislation and 
familiar with the subject, might not as readily have drawn as Mr. 
Bryan. The Preamble required higher powers, and as to his abilities 
for the whole task, if any doubt exists, Mr. Bryan appears to have pos- 
sessed them in an eminent degree. He is described, in an " Extract" 
from a Funeral Discourse upon his death, preached January 30th, 
1191, by the Rev. Dr. Ewing, Provost of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, and to be found in the IX. Yol. of Carey's American Museum, 
p. 81, of the same year, " As formed by nature for a close application 
to study, animated with an ardent thirst for knowledge, and blessed 
with a memory surprisingly tenacious, and the uncommon attendant, 
a clear, penetrating, and decisive judgment ; his mind was the store- 
house of extensive information on a great variety of subjects. Thus 
endowed and qualified, he was able, on most occasions, to avail him- 
self of the labors and acquisitions, the researches and decisions of the 
most distinguished luminaries that had finished their course and set 
before him. You could, therefore, with confidence, generally depend 
upon his judgment as the last result of laborious investigation and 
mature decision. 

" And if you add to these natural and acquired endowments, the 
moral virtues and dispositions of his heart, his benevolence and 
sympathy with the distressed, his unaffected humility and easiness of 
access upon all occasions, his readiness to forgive, and his godlike 
superiority to the injuries of a misjudging world (in imitation of his 
divine Master, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again), his 
inflexible integrity in the administration of justice, together with his 



NOTES. 409 

exalted contempt of both the frowns and the blandishments of the 
world, you will find him eminently qualified for the faithful and 
honorable discharge of the various public offices which he filled, with 
dignity and reputation, even in the worst of times, and in the midst 
of a torrent of unmerited obloquy and opposition. Such an assem- 
blage of unusual qualifications and virtues as adorned the character 
of our departed friend but seldom unite in a single man." 

Mr. Bryan is not mentioned in the " Extract " from Dr. Ewing's 
Discourse as the author of the Act, but in a note, probably appended 
by Mr. Carey, and which contains an obituary account, from Dun- 
lap's American Advertiser, his life and character are thus portrayed:* 
"Previously to the Revolution, he was a representative in the 
General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and delegate in the Congress 
which met at New York, in IT 65, for the purpose of petitioning and 
remonstrating against the Stamp Act and other arbitrary measures 
of the British Parliament. 

" In the contest, he took an early, decisive, and active part with this 
country. When, by the Declaration of Independence, it became 
necessary to erect governments upon the authority of the people, he 
was appointed Yice-President of the Supreme Executive. Council of 
this Commonwealth ; and, by the unfortunate death of the late 
President Wharton, in May, 1TT8, he was placed at the head of the 
government of Pennsylvania, during the summer and autumn of that 
turbulent and eventful year. His office having expired by the limi- 
tation of the Constitution, in the autumn of 1779, he was elected a 
member of the Legislature. In this station, amidst the pressing 
hurry of business, the rage and clamors of party, and the tumult of 
war and invasion, in despite of innumerable prejudices, he planned 
and executed the 'Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery,^ — a 
monument which, instead of mouldering like the proud structures of 
brass and marble, bids fair to flourish in increasing strength. 

" He was afterwards appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, in 
which office he continued till his death ; and during his exercise of it, 
he was, in 1*784, elected one of the Council of Censors, under the late 
Constitution, of which body he was (to say the least) one of the 
principal and leading characters. * * * * Besides the offices which 
have been enumerated, he filled a variety of public, literary, and 
charitable employments : in some of which he was almost continually 

* The Pennsylvania Gazette of February 2, 1791, contains a copy of the same 
notice. 



410 NOTES. 

engaged, — and in all of which he was highly active and useful. * * * 
The firmness of his resolution was invincible, and the mildness of his 
temper never changed. His knowledge was very extensive; the 
strength of his memory verified what has been thought incredible or 
fabulous, when related of others. His judgment was correct, his 
modesty extreme, his benevolence unbounded, and his piety un- 
affected and exemplary. "^ * * If he failed in any duty, it ivas that 
he was possibly too disinterested, — his own interest was almost the 
only thing he ever forgot.''^ 

In the Arch Street Presbyterian Burying-ground, the inscription 
upon his tomb records (and his memory deserves a more fitting 
memorial) that he "died 2Yth of January, 1Y91, aged sixty years- 
that he was among the earliest and most active and uniform friends 
of the rights of man before the Revolutionary War. As a member 
of the Assemby of Pennsylvania and of the Congress at New York, 
in 1Y65, and as a citizen, he was conspicuous in opposition to the 
Stamp and other Acts of British tyranny. He was equally an oppo- 
nent of Domestic Slavery. The emancipation of people of color 
engaged the feelings of his heart and the energies of his mind, and 
the Act of .Abolition, which laid the foundation of their liberation, 
issued from his pe?z." 

The italics are our own. Against this emphatic testimony, no word 
of dissent, so far as we know-, was ever raised. And it is not to 
be believed that his right to authorship, asserted with the know- 
ledge of his associates in his philanthropic work— at the very period 
of his death — in the public prints, and also upon his tomb, would 
have remained uncontradicted had it been unfounded. 

The Preamble, in which the claims to human liberty are so 
grandly and convincingly set forth, is not readily accessible"; and we 
trust we shall be excused for here presenting it : 

" When we contemplate our abhorrence of that condition to which 
the arms and tyranny of Great Britain were exerted to reduce us, 
when we look back on the variety of dangers to which we have been 
exposed, and how miraculously our wants in many instances have 
been supplied and our deliverances wrought, when even hope and 
human fortitude have become unequal to the conflict, we are unavoid- 
ably led to a serious and grateful sense of the manifold blessings 
which we have undeservedly received from the hand of that Being 
from whom every good and perfect gift cometh. Impressed with 
these ideas, we conceive that it is our duty, and we rejoice that it is 



NOTES. 411 

in our power, to extend a portion of that freedom to others which 
hath been extended to us, and release from that state of thraldom, to 
which we ourselves were tyrannically doomed, and from which we 
have now every prospect of being delivered. It is not for us to in- 
quire why, in the creation of mankind, the inhabitants of the several 
parts of the earth were distinguished by a dificrence in feature or 
complexion. It is sufficient to know that all are the work of an 
Almighty hand. We find, in the distribution of the human species, 
that the most fertile as well as the most barren parts of the earth are 
inhabited by men of complexion different from ours and from each 
other; from whence we may reasonably as well as religiously infer, 
that He who placed them in their various situations, hath extended 
equally his care and protection to all, and that it becometh not us to 
counteract his mercies. We esteem it a peculiar blessing granted to 
us that we are enabled this day to add one more step to universal 
civilization, by removing, as much as possible, the sorrows of those 
who have lived on under cruel bondage, and upon which, by the 
assumed authority of the Kings of Great Britain, no effectual legal 
relief could be obtained. Weaned by a long course of experience 
from those narrow prejudices and partialities we had imbibed, we 
find our hearts enlarged with kindness and benevolence towards men 
of all conditions and nations ; and we conceive ourselves at this par- 
ticular period extraordinarily called upon, by the blessings which we 
have received, to manifest the sincerity of our profession, and to give 
a substantial proof of our gratitude. 

" And whereas the condition of those persons who have heretofore 
been denominated Negro and Mulatto Slaves, has been attended 
with circumstances which not only deprived them of the common 
blessings that they were by nature entited to, but has cast them into 
the deepest afflictions by an unnatural separation and sale of husband 
and wife from each other and from their children, an injury the great- 
ness of which can only be conceived by sqjpposing that we were in 
the same unhappy case. In justice, therefore, to persons so un- 
happily circumstances, and who, having no prospect before them 
whereon they may rest their sorrows and their hopes, have no 
reasonable inducement to render their services to society, which 
they otherwise might ; and also in grateful commemoration of our 
own happy deliverance from that state of unconditional submission 
to which we were doomed by the tyranny of Britain. 

" Be it enacted, &c."* — Editor. 

* I. Dallas' Laws, 838. 



412 



. NOTES. 



In 1844 Mr. Nathan Kite accidentally discovered, among some of 
the papers belonging to the Society of Friends in Philadelphia, this 
valuable and long sought document. He immediately caused it to 
be printed in xvii. vol. of the "Friend," p. 125, and remarks: 

" The testimony of the Friends at Germantown against slavery,* 
sent up to the Yearly Meeting of 1688, has, within the last few 
days, been discovered. These Friends were Germans, and mostly 
from Cresheim, a town not far from Worms in the Palatinate. They 
had suffered persecution in their own country, and seem to have had 
a very correct appreciation of the rights of others. * * * Coming 
from a country where oppression on account of color was unknown"^ 
and where buying, selling, and holding in bondage human beings, 
who had been legally convicted of no crime, was regarded as an act 
of cruelty and injustice, to be looked for from the hands of none 
but a Turk or barbarian, the members of this little community 
were shocked to see that negro slavery had taken root, and was 
increasing around them. * * * It is certainly a strong document, 
and whilst it bears evidence that the writers had an incompetent 
knowledge of the English language, it plainly demonstrates that they 
were well acquainted with the inalienable rights of man and with 
the spirit of the gospel. We publish it as it is in the original, and 
doubt not that our readers will find sufficient clearness in the argu- 
ment, notwithstanding some confusion in the use of prepositions." 

"THIS IS TO THE MONTHLY MEETING HELD AT RICHARD WORRELL'S: 

" These are the reasons why we are against the traffic of men- 
body, as followeth. Is there any that would be done or handled at 



_ * The poet Whittier celebrates the praises of these lovers of liberty for all 
m the following lines : 

"Lay's modest soul, and Benezet the mild, 
Steadfast in faith, yet gentle as a child ; 
Meek-hearted Woolman and that brother band, 
The sorrowing exiles from their ' Father Land.' 
Leaving their homes in Kricshiem's bowers of vine, 
And the bine beauty of their glorious Rhine, 
To seek, amidst our solemn depths of wood, ' 
Freedom for man and holy peace with God ;' 
Who first of all their testimonial gave 
Against the oppressor for the outcast slave." 
Whittier's Poems, 1G8, Edition of Mussey & Co., Boston, 1845. 



NOTES. 413 

this manner? viz., to be sold or made a slave for all the time of his 
life ? How fearful and faint-hearted are many on sea, when they see 
a strange vessel, — being afraid it should be a Turk, and they should 
be taken, and sold for slaves into Turkey. Now what is this better 
done than Turks do ? Yea, rather is it worse for them, which say 
they are Christians ; for we hear that the most part of such negers are 
brought hither against their will and consent, and that many of them 
are stolen. Now, though they are black, we cannot conceive there is 
more liberty to have them slaves, as [than] it is to have other white 
ones. There is a saying, that we shall do to all men like as we will 
be done ourselves ; making no difference of what generation, descent 
or color they are. And those who steal or robb men, and those who 
buy or purchase them, are they not all alike ? Here is liberty of 
conscience, which is right and reasonable ; here ought to be likewise 
liberty of the body, except of evil-doers, which is another case. But 
to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, wo 
stand against. In Europe there are many oppressed for conscience 
sake ; and here there are those oppressed which are of a black colour. 
And we who know that men must not commit adultery, — some do 
commit adultery in others, separating wives from their husbands and 
giving them to others; and some sell the children of these poor 
creatures to other men. Ah ! do consider well this thing, you 
who do it, if you would be done at this manner ? and if it is done 
according to Christianity ? You surpass Holland and Germany in 
this thing. This makes an ill report in all those countries of Europe, 
where they hear of [it], that the Quakers do here handel men as 
they handel there the cattle. And for that reason some have no 
mind or inclination to come hither. And who shall maintain this 
your cause, or plead for it ? Truly we cannot do so, except you shall 
inform us better hereof, viz., that Christians have liberty to practise 
these things. Pray, what thing in the world can be done worse 
towards us, than if men should rob or steal us away, and sell us for 
slaves to strange countries ; separating husbands from their wives 
and children. Being now this is not done in the manner we would 
be done at [by], therefore we contradict, and are against this traffic 
of men-body. And we who profess that it is not lawful to steal, 
must, likewise, avoid to purchase such things as are stolen, but 
rather help to stop this robbing and stealing if possible. And such 
men ought to be delivered out of the hands of the robbers, and set 
free as in Europe.* Then is Pennsylvania to have a good report, 

* " Alluding probably to the abolition of the old feudal 



414 



NOTES. 



instead it hath now a bad one for this sake in other countries 
Especially whereas the Europeans are desirous to know in what 
manner the Quakers do rule in their province :— and most of them do 
look upon us with an envious eye. But if this is done well, what 
shall we say is done evil ? 

"If once these slaves (which they say are so wicked and stubborn 
men) should join themselves,— fight for their freedom,— and handel 
their masters and mistresses as they did handel them before ; will 
these masters and mistresses take the sword at hand and war against 
these poor slaves, like, we are able to believe, some will not refuse to 
do ? or have these negers not as much right to fight for their freedom 
as you have to keep them slaves ? ' 

" Now consider well this thing, if it is good or bad ? And in case 
you find It to be good to handel these blacks at that manner we 
desire and require you hereby lovingly, that you may inform us here- 
m which at this time never was done, viz., that Christians hrive such 
a liberty to do so. To the end we shall [may] be satisfied in this 
point, and satisfy likewise our good friends and acquaintances in our 
native country, to whom it is a terror or fearful thing, that men 
should be handelled so in Pennsylvania. 

"This is from our meeting at Germantown, held r 18 of the 2 
month 1688, to be delivered to the Monthly Meeting at Richard 
^°^^^"'«- Garret henderich 

derick up de graeff 
Francis daniell Pastorius 
Abraham jr. Den graef. 
^ " At our Monthly Meeting at Dublin, r 30-2 mo., 1688, we having 
inspected y^ matter above mentioned, and considered of it, we find it 
so weighty that we think it not expedient for us to meddle with it 
here,_but do rather commit it to y^ consideration of r Quarterly 
Meeting ; y^ tenor of it being nearly related to r Truth 
" On behalf of y^ Monthly Meeting 
"^^^^^^' P. Jo. Hart. 

^C^^^'^' u^^^^l mentioned, was read in our Quarterly Meeting, at 
Philadelphia the 4 of y^ 4th mo., '88, and was from thence recom- 
mended to the Yearly Meeting, and the above said Derick, and the 
other two mentioned therein, to present the same to r above said 
meeting, it bemg a thing of too great a weight for this meeting to 
determine. ^ 

" Signed by order of y" meeting, 

Anthony Morris," 



NOTES. 415 

The Act of 1T05 was entitled, "An Act to prevent the importation 
of Indian slaves." 

" If, after the 25 March, 1T06, any person shall import or cause to 
be imported any Indian slaves or servants whatsoever, from any 
province or colony in America into this province, by land or water," 
* * * they " shall be forfeited to the governor, and shall be either 
set at liberty, or otherwise disposed of as the governor and council 
shall see cause." The Act made an exception in favor of "menial 
servants in the family of the importer," &c., &c. — Bradford Laws, 
Philadelphia, 1114. 

"An Impost Act, laying a duty on negroes, wine, rum, and other 
spirits, cider, and vessels," passed 28th, 12th month, 1710. 

Imposed for the space of three years, from and after the 10th day 
of March, IT 10, a duty of forty shillings per head on every negro 
imported, excepting such as belonged to persons residing in the 
province and importing for their own service, and in case of failure 
to pay such duties under certain limitations, such negroes so landed, 
if taken, " shall be forfeited and seized, and after due proof," sold 
"for the utmost the same will fetch." 

"An Act to prevent the importation of negroes and Indians into 
the province," passed in 1H2. 

The first section imposed a payment of twenty pounds per head 
upon every negro or Indian brought into the province. 

Section 2. Masters of vessels, &c., bringing them were required 
to make a return of their number and to whom they belonged ; " all 
such negroes and Indians " (in whose case any of the provisions 
■\^ere violated) " shall be seized and sold by the said officer for the 
time being (hereinafter named), and the monies arising thereby shall 
be paid to the provincial treasurer for the uses hereinafter directed." 
Duties paid upon any negro or Indian imported, but to be exported 
within twenty days, were to be returned; all such were to be 
" actually and bona fide forthwith shipt off or sent out of the pro- 
vince, so as never to return again, without complying anew with the 
direction of this Act, otherwise all such negroes and Indians shall 
be liable to the same penalties and seizures as tho' the same had never 
before been entered." 

3. Samuel Holt appointed " to put Act in execution, and shall by 
virtue hereof have full power to make strict enquiry into the premises, 
and upon information or other probable cause of suspicion, without 
any further or other warrant, may [upon the parties' refusal], with 



416 



NOTES. 



the assistance of the sheriff or constable [who are thereby required 
to be acting therein], break open any house or place suspected, and 
seize or cause to be seized all such negroes or Indians as shall be 
found concealed or otherwise, whose owners or possessors have not 
complied with the Act according to the true intent and meaning 
thereof; and thereupon to dispose of such as shall be so seized, by a 
public vendue, for the most they will yield, and when reasonable 
charges are deducted shall pay the produce or price thereof, and all 
other sums arising by this Act (retaining one shilling for every pound 
for his trouble therein), into the provincial treasurer's hands," &c. 

4. Said Holt to keep a distinct and fair book of account, &c. This 
section further provides that any person prosecuted for anything done 
in pursuance of Act may plead the general issue, and give the Act 
and special matter in evidence. The duty of twenty pounds was 
not to be exacted in the case of those Indians or negroes belonging 
to persons in the province, and sent out of it "on their ■ masters' 
business with intent to return again." " Runaway negroes or Indians " 
were subject to reclamation within twenty days after the arrival of 
their owners in the province, but were to be sold after the expiration 
of twelve months in case no owner appeared. "Gentlemen and 
strangers travelling in the province" were allowed to retain their 
negro or Indian slaves for a time not exceeding six months. — Brad- 
ford Laws. 

These Acts seemed to have had their origin in policy rather than 
in justice. If the importation could be prevented, it was well • if 
not, the punishment fell upon the slave, but indirectly upon those 
who attempted to violate the law. Had all who were brought in 
been declared free, and those who brought them punished, a course 
would have been pursued more in accordance with humanity and 
right. Such, however, was the harsh treatment of the mother coun- 
try that even these Acts were repealed, and the subsequent modifi- 
cations of her views upon slavery and the amelioration of her very 
cruel criminal code were due to the humane example of some of those 
States which as colonies or provinces she had governed. —Editor. 



NOTICES 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 



ROBERT PROUD, 

AUXnOR OF " THE HISTORY OF PENXSTLVANIA." 



CHARLES WEST THOMSON. 



Read hefore the Council, August l(jt7i, 1826. 

(417) 



NOTICES, ETC. 



There are few subjects connected with the history of 
our country, on which so much remissness has been 
observed, as in collecting and arranging authentic narrar 
tives of the lives of those venerable men who have gone 
before us, filling with the most effective zeal and industry 
the station of literary and political pioneers ; and, in a 
greater or less degree, giving " to the body of their age its 
form and pressure." The details of many of these narrar 
tives remain only in the recollection of those few of their 
cotemporaries whom age has spared ; and the unceasing 
tide of time, as it sweeps over these even now faint tradi- 
tions, is daily effacing the impression, until at last, unless 
transferred to a record of greater perpetuity, it shall 
become utterly illegible. It is, indeed, much to be re- 
gretted, that many interesting facts and incidents relating 
to the outset of our political career, are thus becoming 
lost to the world, for want of some suitable hand to give 
them a form of durability. Sincerely is it to be wished 
that some of those, who have now quit the stage of 
action, had employed a portion of their leisure in commit- 

(419) 



420 Thomson's notices 

ting to paper those interesting and important matters 
which they had seen and known, and which have now 
gone down with them to the grave ; and still more is it 
now to be desired, that the small remnant that remains, 
will not suffer a similar oblivion to cover the knowledge 
which they possess. 

Impressed with these views, I have been at some pains 
to collect materials for the following sketch, which, 
though slender and in many respects unsatisfactory, will 
not, I trust, prove wholly uninteresting. Engaged in an 
arduous and time-engrossing occupation, I have been 
obliged to throw them together as intervals of leisure 
might offer, which I fear will make their arrangement 
appear exceedingly desultory. Such as they are, how- 
ever, I offer them to the service of the society, trusting 
to superior abihties for their improvement and cor- 
rection. 

Most of those great and admirable men who belonged 
to the patriarchal age of our country are now no more, 
and too many of them have gone to their rest "un- 
honored and unsung." Unambitious of fame or future 
renown, it is true of many of them that they passed much 
of their lives in retirement and seclusion. In the native 
simplicity, of their characters, they pursued the quiet path 
of unaspiring duty ; and while they walked humbly before 
God, and dealt justly with their fellow-men, they asked 
not the idle breath of praise to give them a celebrity, 
which they knew at best could be but vain and evanes- 
cent. Among this unassuming class, perhaps, one of the 
most obscure and retiring was Robert Proud, the only 



OF ROBERT PROUD. 421 

citizen of Pennsylvania who has ever honored her with a 
History, or attempted to give her a name among the 
nations. To the contemplation of some prominent in- 
cidents of his retired life, we propose devoting a few 
pages. 

He was born, according to a memorandum of his early 
hfe which he has left, on the 10th day of May, 1728. 
His parents, William and Ann Proud, were at the time 
residing in Yorkshire, England, at a farm-house called 
Low Foxton, which was so named to distinguish it from 
the adjoining farm of High Foxton, and which has long 
since been entirely demolished. It was situated about a 
mile distant from a small market-town called Yarm, on 
the river Tees, which forms part of the boundary hne 
between the counties of Yorkshire and Durham. From 
his early years, he appears to have been studiously dis- 
posed, or as he himself expresses it, " I had a sense of 
what is good and excellent, and of the contrary; and 
have ever been, according to that sense, very desirous of 
the best things ; and therefore early, in my young years, 
had a strong inchnation for learning, virtue, and true 
wisdom, or improvement of mind and mental felicity, 
before or in preference to all mere worldly or inferior con- 
siderations ; which I afterwards rejected on that acc(,)unt, 
when I was courted by them, and had it in my power to 
have appeared in a much superior character and station 
in the world, than I am since known to be in." 

The first step which he took in the path of learning 
was at the neighboring village of Crathorn, where he 
went to school to acquire the rudiments of knowledge, to 



422 Thomson's notices 

a person of the name of Baxter. This circumstance, as 
far as we are informed, presented in itself nothing 
remarkable ; but it is interesting, as being the outset of 
that career which afterwards stamped his character, and 
produced so powerful an influence over his fortunes. 

When Robert was about five or six years of age, the 
family removed from Foxton to a farm fifteen or twenty 
miles distant, near the village of Thirsk, called Wood 
End, which had long been the seat and residence of the 
Talbots. Here he continued to reside until he was nearly 
grown up, when, induced by his desire for improvement, 
he obtained permission to leave his paternal mansion, and 
took up his abode under the roof of one David Hall, at 
Skipton, in a distant part of the same county of York- 
shire. Some depression of spirits, very natural to a young 
mind on its departure from home, appears to have at- 
tended him in the prospect as well as the accomplishment 
of this journey; on which he was accompanied by his 
cousin, Robert Proud, who afterwards became a preacher 
in the Society of Friends, and visited America on a 
service of ministerial duty. 

This David Hall was a member of the same society, 
and also a preacher in it ;* and kept a boarding-school, in 
which he taught the Latin and Greek languages, and 
some other branches of learning. The subject of our 
present notice had no previous knowledge of him, except- 



* He was likewise a writer of some esteem in the society, and, 
after his death, some of his productions were reprinted, and pub- 
lished in a small octavo volume, with a sketch of his life written by 
himself. 



OF ROBERT PROUD. 423 

ing by name and character ; but he was a man, it seems, 
of some literary reputation; and, as Proud says in his 
memorandum, " esteemed one of the most learned, repute 
able, and most worthy persons then in that part of Eng- 
land." The preceptor and the pupil appear, however, to 
have been well pleased with each other; and a firm 
friendship was cemented between them, which continued 
unremitted until the death of Hall, till which time they 
maintained a correspondence in the Latin tongue. 

Robert remained in the house of his esteemed tutor, at 
Skipton, about four years, with great satisfaction and 
improvement. It was not his original intention to devote 
himself particularly to the languages, but merely to ad- 
vance himself in some parts of mathematics, and enjoy 
the impro^dng conversation of his instructor. By his per- 
suasion, however, he applied himself to Latin and Greek, 
and soon made considerable proficiency. 

But another change was noAV to be made, still more 
trying than the former, to a young and inexperienced 
mind. To London, that "resort and mart of all the 
earth," was the next remove, which he effected in the 
year 1750, being then about twenty-one years of age, 
taking with him a recommendation from his affectionate 
preceptor. After some time, by the influence of his kind 
friend and relative, the illustrious Dr. John Fothergill, 
who, unlike some high professors of the present day, 
" was a great friend of learning, and a zealous promoter 
of true mental improvement, and a lover of all useful 
science," (such is Proud's eulogy,) he obtained an agree- 
able temporary situation in the families of Sylvan us and 



424 Thomson's notices 

Timothy Bevan* These gentlemen had an establish- 
ment in London ; but their country-seat, at Hackney, 
about two miles distant from the city, was generally the 
place of Robert's residence. In this retirement he first 
assumed the office of a preceptor, occupying a consider- 
able part of his time in the tuition of the two young 
Bevans, sons of the last-named gentleman. He took the 



* Sylvanus Bevan was originally from Wales, and was early in 
life introduced to William Penn, who afterwards became his intimate 
acquaintance, friend, and patron. He had two wives, the first of 
whom was a daughter of Daniel Quare, watchmaker to King William 
III., and the second a daughter of Dr. Heathcott, who served the 
same monarch in the capacity of physician. A curious anecdote is 
related in reference to his marriage with the latter. The parties 
being all members of the Society of Friends, and the father of the 
bride holding so exalted a station, it was feared too much attention 
and display would be excited, if the marriage were solemnized at the 
regular meeting for worship ; accordingly, the day before was speci- 
ally appointed for that purpose, in the hope that it would not be 
generally known. Notwithstanding this precaution, however, as 
mostly happens on such occasions, the secret soon transpired, and a 
splendid assembly was collected to witness the nuptials. The queen 
and princesses were present, and it was said that the king himself 
attended incog. There lived a few miles from town an old lady of 
the name of Alice Hays, a good honest woman, and moreover a 
preacher in the Society of Friends, who, under an idea of religious 
duty, went that morning to London, and attended the above- 
mentioned meeting. George Whitehead, well known as a preacher 
in the same society, attempted some observations appropriate to the 
occasion, endeavoring to elucidate the trite maxim, that the man is 
the head of the woman. When he had concluded, Alice Hays rose 
and remarked, that some objection might be offered to what had been 
said, for it was asserted in Scripture that a virtuous woman is a 
crown to her husband, and that it was well known that the crown 
is above the head. The queen and princesses were so much pleased 
with the wit of the remark, that the next day they made her a 
visit. 



OF ROBERT PROUD. 425 

opportimity, however, in his intervals of leisure, of culti- 
vating his own improvement in literature and science, in 
the hope that, at some future period, it might redound to 
his own advantage, or at least enable him to become a 
useful member of society, xlmid all the ardor of study 
which he evinced, the desire to render his attainments 
subservient to the good of his fellow beings seemed to be 
a paramount consideration ; and sometimes, as has before 
been hinted, occasioned the neglect of his own immediate 
interests. He was now placed in a situation where he 
could indulge this propensity; and his views were still 
intensely directed, as though he had prophetically fore- 
seen his coming labors in the land of his adoption, not 
only to his " own future advantage, but also to tliat of 
others." He pursued knowledge, at this time, for its own 
sake ; the amor literarum with which he was infected was 
a subhme hallucination, and taught him to look on pecu- 
niary aggrandizement as mean and contemptible, or, in his 
own language, "as the most despicable of worldly objects." 
But he had occasion to regret in after life, with a feeling 
of blight and disappointment which usually attends such 
minds, his inattention to the good things of this world, 
and was obliged to acknowledge, that though " honor and 
fame from no condition rise," yet the circumstances in 
which we are placed in society do more or less intimately 
affect our happiness. A man of genius, illy provided in 
this respect, must, generally speaking, either select his 
associates from among those who are beneath his le\el in 
intellect or else experience much difficulty, as Proud did, 
in order to act in proper character and maintain the 



426 . THOMSON S NOTICES 

standing his education would seem to demand. This, to 
a sensitive mind, would be equally trying on either side ; 
and it will easily be conceived how deeply such a one 
must feel the deprivations of fortune, even though not 
subjected to " any immediate want or extraordinary 
necessity." Narrow circumstances, he also discovered, 
were no small impediment to entering into the married 
state, a situation which, in his early years, he seems to 
have ardently desired, as conducing materially to the 
felicity of the human mind. But, like Moses on Mount 
Pisgah, he only perceived the excellency of the promised 
land, but was never permitted to obtain the possession. 

From the preceding remarks it will be inferred, that, 
during his residence in London, Eobert Proud was intro- 
duced into a very different rank of society, and moved in 
a much higher sphere, than that to which he had before 
been accustomed. It was his good fortune, which he 
acknowledges as a favor from the Divine hand, to receive 
from those with whom he then associated the most re- 
spectful notice and attention. From the intimacy which 
he thus enjoyed with Dr. Fothergill and other celebrated 
members of the medical profession, he was induced to 
apply himself to the study of that science ; and, having 
ample opportunity of obtaining the best information on 
subjects relating to it, he continued the pursuit for several 
years, with a success fully adequate to his expectations. 
His views of the practice of physic were noble and ex- 
alted; and the same desire to labor for the benefit of 
mankind, which had stimulated him to exertion in his 
former employments, followed him into his present occu- 



OF ROBERT PROUD. 427 

pation, and urged liim to pursue it with increased 
assiduity. 

But there is a species of professional disgust, (I know 
not what else to term it,) which sometimes seizes upon 
men of the strongest mind and most vigorous intellect, 
and throws, by its paralyzing influence, a pervading spell 
over the whole of their future life. Our admired coun- 
tryman, the late Charles Brockden BrowTi, was an inter- 
esting instance of this singular malad3^ Few men, per- 
haps, have had a fairer opportunity of rising to enviable 
reputation at the bar than he ; and fewer still have pos- 
sessed abilities so adequate to enable them to ascend the 
steep of fame with ease and rapidity. To his elegant, 
powerful, and comprehensive mind, the law opened a field 
of active enterprise and tempting emolument, and for a 
time the race was promising. But ere the goal was fairly 
out of view, this malum magni animi laid its withering 
grasp upon his energies, and he retired in disgust from 
the ranks of legal competition. A similar fate awaited 
the subject of our narrative. With the fairest prospect 
of success before him, he became dissatisfied with his 
situation. It exposed him, he remarks, " to a very glaring 
view of the chief causes of those diseases (not to say vices) 
which occasioned the greatest emolument to the profession 
of medicine ;" and, upon this ground (the solidity of which 
we leave to others to determine), his aversion to it became 
so insuperable, that he at once abandoned the pursuit, and 
with it his country. For this last singular step we find 
it diflicult to account. He gives no reason for it himself 
in the memorandum to which we have referred, excepting 



428 Thomson's notices 

some vague idea that it was taken "on account of that 
satisfaction of mind which much acquaintance, popuharity, 
and fame, or the hurry of much employment, crowds and 
large cities seldom afford." It is not a little remarkable, 
that so important an action of his Hfe should have a cause 
assigned for it so very unsatisfactory.* 

On the third day of January, 1759, Eobert Proud 
landed at Lewistown, in the State of Delaware, and three 
days after arrived in Philadelphia. He left behind him, 
in England, three brothers and two sisters, of whom little 
is known. His parents, it ajDpears, were yet living at the 
time of his emigration, and, while they remained, it is 
said, he at one period thought of returning to his native 

land ; but they, in the course of nature, were removed, 

the auspicious season passed away,— and his wish was 
never accomplished. The first person with whom he 
took up his residence, after his arrival, was one Isaac 

* There is a tradition abroad respecting his emigration from 
England, which it may not, perhaps, be amiss to mention, although, 
as far as we can learn, there is little warrant for its authenticitj. He 
seldom or never spoke on the subject, and has, consequently, left the 
matter open to conjecture. It is said that he had formed an attach- 
ment to a young lady of great beauty, to whom, if I am not mistaken, 
he was under engagement of marriage, which, being broken off by 
the interference of royal gallantry, produced a disappointment, which 
is spoken of as the cause of his voluntary exile. This, however it 
will be remembered, is merely tradition. Another individual was 
well known at one time as having incurred a disappointment of the 
nature alluded to, and having had some acquaintance with Proud it 
is supposed by the friends of the latter that the circumstance has 
thus been incorrectly imputed to him. There seems, nevertheless to 
be some slight ground for the belief, that our historian did at one 
period suffer a similar discomfiture, but not with the person or in the 
manner generally reported. 



OF ROBERT PROUD. 429 

Greeuleaf,* at whose house, however, he remained but a 
few months. He changed the place of his abode fre- 
quently during the first twenty years of his residence in 
Philadelphia and its neighborhood. During that time, he 
resided, at three different intervals, with his worthy 
friend, Anthony Benezet ; and he frequently spoke, with 
great satisfaction, of the many pleasant hours he had 
spent in the company of that estimable man, and those 
other venerable characters who were accustomed to resort 
to his humble dwelling.f Finally, however, in the 
autumn of 1779, he went to reside with Samuel Clark, 
in whose family he continued, witliout intermission, 
during the remainder of his life, a lapse of more than 
thirty years. 

From the period of his arrival in America, his hfe 
assumed a monotonous aspect, very unfavorable to bio- 
graphical interest. Retired in his habits, he pursued 
"the noiseless tenor of his way;" and seldom coming 
before the public eye, the memory of many of his days 
has gone down with him to the grave. Many years 
previous, a public school or seminary had been estab- 
lished by the Society of Friends, one department of 



* Merely for the sake of correctness, it may l)c as well to observe, 
that he staid previously, for a day or two, at the house of his friend, 
Mordecai Yarnall, who was the companion of his voyage. 

f Proud used to compare Benezet's house to a ship's cabin, it 
being below the level of the ground, with descending steps to the 
door. This antiquated building stood in Chestnut Street below 
Fourth, nearly opposite our present Post-office, and was removed, in 
the year 1818, to make room for a more modern edifice. A sketch 
of it has been preserved by Roberts Yaux, Esq. 



430 Thomson's notices 

which was appropriated to instruction in the classics; 
and in this school, about the year 1761, Proud took his 
station as teacher of the Greek and Latin languages. He 
continued in this situation until the commencement of 
the Revolutionary War, when he relinquished the precep- 
torship, and engaged in an unfortunate mercantile con- 
cern with his youngest brother, John Proud, who was 
then a resident in this country. Robert was then an 
ardent royalist : he could not for a moment entertain an 
idea unfavorable to the success of the king's cause, and 
made his calculations in business accordingly. The result 

proved adverse to his expectations and his hopes, the 

colonies became independent, and his commercial affairs 
went to ruin. His brother returned to England, and 
Robert, at the close of the war, again resumed the 
school. 

The total discomfiture of the royal cause, to which his 
affections were so closely wedded, and the consequent 
failure of his own private fortunes, seemed to have soured 
his feelings towards the land of his adoption; and, 
although his ideas of prudence induced much taciturnity 
on the subject, yet he has occasionally expressed himself 
in rather unkindly terms towards this country, in some 
of the papers which he has left behind him. With regard, 
however, to his sentiments on this topic, it must be re- 
membered, by way of extenuation, that he had left his 
own country under peculiar circumstances, with all those 
powerful attachments, not to say prejudices, which every 
true patriot should feel for his native land,— that so long 
as the colonies remained under the government of the 



OF ROBERT PROUD. 431 

mother country, he seemed, in some measure, to retain a 
hold upon his birth-place, — that the dismemberment of 
the colonies broke this tie, and totally severed him from 
the home of his affections. The ardent spirit of the 
times, moreover, must be taken into consideration; the 
treasonable character which the contest was thought by 
many to present, must also be remembered ; and combin- 
mg these with those fierce and unfriendly passions which 
a civil war invariably awakens, we must forgive Proud, 
Englishman as he was by birth, and fretted as he had 
been by early disappointment and later misfortune, if he 
did prefer the land of his nativity to the land of his 
adoption, and in that tr^'ing and, in its results, glorious 
struggle, gave his full and undivided heart and feelings 
to the furtherance of the Tory interests. 

It is not a little singular, that, under this full tide of 
political excitement against the colonies, the subject of 
our notice should have projected and, in a few years, 
absolutely accomplished, a History of Pennsylvania, — the 
only history of our State which has ever been attempted,* 
and which is rendered more valuable on that aecomit 
than from any intrinsic merit it possesses. I do not say 
that it is valuable on that account only ; for, as a succinct 
collection of historical facts, it undoubtedly deserves the 
most respectful attention ; but its style is too dry, and its 
diction too inelegant, ever to render it a classical work, or 
to enable it to stand before a more graceful competitor. 
It is exactly that stately old-fashioned article that its 

* We are happy to hope that Mr. Gordon's forthcoming history 
will not allow this to be said much longer. 



432 Thomson's notices 

author himself was ; only wanting the capacity which he 
IDOssessed, by gentleness of tone or kindness of manner, to 
make itself agreeable. He deserves, however, all reason- 
able credit for his performance, — for it was a work of no 
small labor to collect the materials for such a book. He 
who has never undertaken so arduous a task knows little 
of the persevering patience it requires to get together 
into a congregated mass, to sort, select, and arrange those 
" scattered fragments of broken" facts, which are the body 
and the essence of such a composition. The difficulty of 
discovering those who have the desired information, and 
the still more insurmountable difficulty of inducihg them 
to communicate it, are enough to discourage any man, 
unless he be endowed with more than common equa- 
nimity, from making so wearisome an attempt. In this 
view, Proud's volumes deserve our sincere commendation. 
He has acted in the arduous character of a pioneer, — 
he has gone before, and gathered up the segregated 
materials; and to the future historian he will at least 
serve as a landmark, by which he may in some measure 
direct his course. 

I have said that, after his failure, Robert resumed the 
duties of a teacher. This was his element, and perhaps 
the sphere of his most extensive usefulness. He took 
great delight in the languages, was well acquainted with 
Latin and Greek, and had also a considerable knowledge 
of French and Hebrew. With the Latin he was so 
familiar, that he thought he could understand a subject 
better in that language than in his own. Under such 
competent government, the school necessarily flourished, 



OF ROBERT PROUD. 433 

and he had the satisfaction of sending forth from it many, 
who have since attained a high standing in society, and 
become ornaments to the circles in which they have 
moved. His manners as a teacher were mild, command- 
ing, and affectionate. I once heard a gentleman, who had 
been his pupil, speak with much satisfaction of Proud's 
conduct towards him on leaving school. He entered with 
perfect freedom into familiar conversation, enquired with 
the most paternal anxiety respecting his prospects in life, 
with the greatest kindness offered him some appropriate 
advice, and parted with him as a father parts with a son. 
It produced on the mind of this individual, though he 
was at that time but a boy, an impression of the deepest 
respect. 

The venerable tutor relinquished his school about the 
year 1791, and employed himself in preparing his History 
for publication. It had been principally written for some 
time, but the circumstances of the revolution prevented 
its appearance, and it was not till the year 1797-8 that 
it was finally ushered into the world. As might have 
been anticipated, it was unsuccessful ; and thus not only 
were several years of assiduous labor lost, and the fond 
expectations of authorship overthrown, but considerable 
pecuniary expenditures, necessarily incurred, remained 
without the hope of reimbursement. Thus disappointed 
in his literary views, he resigned the pen, as an author, 
and sat himself down in otium cum dignitate. Having 
now survived the greater part of his most intimate friends, 
he seldom went abroad, as he had formerly been accus- 
tomed occasionally to do, for the purj^ose of visiting, but 



434 Thomson's notices 

employed most of his time at home in reading and 
writing ; sometimes in composition of his own, and some- 
times in translating short moral sentences from various 
Latin authors, which he continued to do without the aid 
of glasses, even to the advanced age of eighty years. 
Many of his essays were poetical, but, of the number he 
has left, few rise above mediocrity. He appears at a 
certain period of his hfe, a little prior to the one just 
noticed, to have been the victim of frequent fits of de- 
jection; and, at some of these seasons, he gave words 
to his distress in very moving numbers. Those of later 
date, however, appear more calm and confiding, and his 
closing days were passed in tranquillity and peace. He 
continued to Hve on thus, in great seclusion and uniformity, 
for many years, until a naturally strong constitution, 
which had generally insured him a good state of health, 
began to give way before the inevitable attacks of age j 
when, after languishing for eleven days, on the evening 
of the seventh of July, 1813, and in the eighty-sixth year 
of his age, he quietly sank into the rest of eternity, "like 
a shock of corn fully ripe." 

Kobert Proud was in person tall, his nose was of the 
Roman order, and "overhung with most impending brows." 
I remember having seen him when I was quite- a small 
boy ; his appearance was striking, and could not readily 
be altogether forgotten. I have not been able to recall 
the expression of his countenance ; but I well remember 
the imposing efiect which the curled, gray wig, the half- 
cocked, patriarchal-looking hat, and the long, ivory-headed 
cane, had on my boyish imagination. I believe Proud 



OF ROBERT PROUD. 435 

was one of the last of the old school — I mean those who 
adhered faithfully to the dignified dress of our ancestors. 
One by one they have dropped away, and with them has 
departed almost every trace of the olden time. 

The character of this venerable relic of honest worth 
may be summed up in a few words : I give nearly the 
language of one who knew him well. He was a zealous 
advocate for useful learning, a man of regular habits and 
great temperance, and in his manners the model of a 
gentleman. 

Requiescat in pace ! No proud mausoleum lifts its 
head to celebrate his praises ; his nameless grave owns no 
memorial but the green sod with which Nature has 
adorned it ; but many an one is yet living, who, in the 
grateful recollection of his worth and virtues, can sanctify 
the memory of Domine Proud.* 

* Some Poems by Robert Proud may be found in the Appendix, 
Note IV. — Editor. 



OEIGINAL LETTERS 



WILLIAM PENN 



(487) 



OEIGINAL LETTERS, ETC 



The following three letters have been selected from several which 
are manifestly in the handwriting of William Penn, and were 
probably the rough draughts made by him, and subsequently 
copied. They were found among the papers of the late estimable 
Doctor John Syng Dorsey, who, it is supposed, derived them from 
his grandfather, Edmund Physick, formerly an officer under the 
Proprietary government. Mrs. Dorsey has kindly given permission 
to make the publication. 

It may not be improper to observe that the Earl of Rochester, to 
whom one of the letters is addressed, was not the witty and profli- 
gate nobleman who once possessed that title. That unhappy young 
man, worn out by his vices, expired in 1680. 

1. To THE Lord Keeper North. 

My Noble Friend, 

It hatli been sometimes a question with me whether 
writing or silence would be more excusable, for it is an 
unhappiness incident of great men to be troubled with 
the prospects of those their power and goodness oblige ; 
but because I had rather want excuse for this freedom 
than be wanting of gratitude to my benefactor, I deter- 

(439) 



440 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

mined to render my most humble thanks for the many 
favors I received at the Lord North's hand, in the passing 
and great dispatch of my patent. I thank God I am 
safely arrived, and twenty-two sale more ; the air proveth 
sweet and good, the land fertile, and springs many and 
pleasant. We are one hundred and thirty miles from the 
main sea, and forty miles up the freshes. The town platt 
is a mile long and two miles deep j on each side of the 
town runs a navigable river, the least as broad as the 
Thames at Woolwych, the other above a mile; about 
eighty houses are built, and I suppose above three hun- 
dred farms settled as contiguously as may be. -We have 
had since last summer about sixty sail of great and smal 
shipping, which we esteem a good beginning : a fair we 
have had, and weekly markett, to which the ancient lowly 
inhabitants come to sell their produce to their profit and 
our accommodation. I have also bought lands of the 
natives, treated them largely, and settled a firm and 
advantageous correspondency with them ; who are a care- 
less, merry people, yet in property strict with us, though 
as kind as among themselves; in counsel so 

deliberate, in speech short, grave, and eloquent, young 
and old in their several class, that I have never seen in 
Europe anything more wise, cautious, and dexterous ; 'tis 
as admirable to me as it may look incredible on that side 
of the water. The weather often changeth with notice 
and is constant almost in its inconstancy. Our trees are 
eaxafrax, Cyprus, cedar, black walnut, chestnut, oak black, 
white, red, Spanish and swamp the most durable ; divers 
wild fruits, as plum, peach, and grape, the sorts divers. 



OF WILLIAM PENN. 441 

Mineral of copper and iron in divers places. I have only 
to add, that it would please the Lord North to sniile 
favorably upon us, a plantation so well regulated for the 
benefit of the crown, and so improving and hopeful by 
the industry of the people, that since stewards used to 
follow such enterprises in ancient times at least encour- 
agement and countenance might be yielded us, whose 
aims shall in everything be bounded with a just regard 
to the king's service ; and we think we may reasonably 
hope, that, England being the markett both of our wants 
and industry in great measure, there is interest as well as 
goodness of our side. I have pardon to ask for a poor 
present I make by the hands of the bearer, my agent and 
kinsman, Capt. Markham; all I horve to say is this, 'tis 
our country produce, and that of old time offerings were 
valued by the heart that made them. I end with a con- 
gratulation of the honor the king hath joyn'd to thy great 
merit, and my sincere and most affectionate wishes for 
thy prosperity ; being one of those many whom thy good- 
ness hath obliged to own and approve, as really I am, 
Thy very sensible, thankfuU friend, 
and servant to my power, 

WM. PENN. 

Philadelphia, the 24th, 5th mo., July, 1683. 

To THE Lord Keeper North. 



442 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

2. To THE Earl of Rochester. 

Philadelphia, 2d, 12 mo., Feby., 1683. 
My Noble Friend, 

It cannot be strainge to a Lord of so much experience, 
that in nature all creatures seek succor against might ; 
the young from their old and the feeble from the strong, 
and that the same nature, by reciprocal instinct, inspires 
the old to protect their young, and the strong the weak 
of their own kind. This, my noble Lord, is much of my 
case and this trouble ; and to whom can I goe with more 
reason and hope than to him that hath, with so much 
honor and truth and" a perpetual success, been the kind 
and constant patron of my just cause ! Lett this there- 
fore, noble Lord, meet with thy usual favor ; which will 
add to the many bonds I am under, as affection and grati- 
tude to thy just interest and service. 

My last to the Duke brought with it a copy of a demand 
made by the Proprietor of Maryland, with my answear 
to it, another of which I have presumed to inclose, and 
pray that somebody may be commanded to read it at thy 
riseing or undressing, as being too long for a time of 
business, and yet the matter would not admit of more 
contraction. I dare humbly hope that the king's right, 
that of his royall highness, and what their grace and 
favor have made mine, against the pretentions of that 
Lord, will appear in my answear with a more than ordi- 
nary force and evidence. To which I pray leave briefly 
to add, first, that the land in question was never de- 



OF WILLIAM PENN. 443 

manded by liiin of those in possession, till by silence and 
omission forfitted ; the lower parts of this river and bay 
haveing never been askt for of the Dutch for six and 
twenty years, much less reduced ; if a title [?] by neglect 
in an improv'd country, here more, where the wildness 
of the soyle rendereth it not above the sixtieth part to 
that which is labor'd and improved. The upper part 
of this river, from Christina River to the falls, was never 
demanded of the Swedes nor Dutch neither, since they 
reduced it; which is now about thirty years from when 
the crown of England took it in the 1664 as I take 
it; and has been since held jure belli ac pacis. This is 
not all; he never run his line, these fifty years that he 
hath had his graunt — a default never to be plac'd to the 
accompt of the possessor, nor yet to the crown, for grant- 
ing it to another; non-improvement and neglect of fixing 
bounds makeing the loss just on his side, were his pre- 
tensions otherwise right; for as there is no transgression 
where no law is, so where there are no bounds sett, nor 
possessor found, nor any claimant appears, there cannot 
(with submission) be any title against the planter. Nay, 
it is the practice of all these parts of America, and was 
the express condition in all the Duke's patents to the free 
men planters of his colony, they setthng and improving 
the premises. In the next place, what he seeks never 
was, as well as it is not, in his possession, consequently 
never cost him anything to improve, nor has he lost any 
income by its being mine. To this I add that he doth 
not want it ; he hath two hundred miles (for two degrees) 
upon both sides of the bravest bay in the world, Chesea- 



^4 ORIGINAL LETTERS 

peack, while I have but one side of an inferior one, and 
none at all, it seems, if he could have his will, to the 
ruin of (perhaps) the most prosperous beginings in 
America. I have but two creeks that ships of two hun- 
dred tun can enter out of the river for harborage; he has 
fourtj (and to spare) that ships of five hundred tun can 
enter and ride in. And tho' this argument ought not to 
prevaile against absolute right, yet, in a case circum- 
stanced as th*is of mine is, I hope that prudence and pro- 
portion, together with my arguments of contrary right, 
will more then even the scale. With God I leave it, and 
my noble friends; but, if I am herein disappointed, it will 
be a ruinous voyage to me, having spent, in my prepera- 
tions, transport, and maintenance of the quality of 
Governor, aye, and the government too, with the append- 
ant charges, a vast sum. more then ever I received; and I 
hope and believe the King and Duke, by favor of my 
noble friend, will never suffer me to fall short of the most 
important part of the grant and country, and which that 
Lord hath no right to, want of, nor loss by. And now, 
my noble friend, give me leave to valine myselfe to the' 
Duke by so acceptable a proxy as the Lord of Rochester 
in his affiiirs of New York; he must indeed remember 
the humble advice I gave him, when in his closett he askt 
me my opinion of his selling of New York, what I writt 
to him from hence in that affair, and the zeal and respect 
I have shown in his service herein, and that not without 
success (tho' any one will think I did not play the cuning 
man in it) ; and I cannot suffer myself to believe that a 
prince of his generous and steady temper will permit so 



OF WILLIAM PENN. 445 

fatal a stroake to come upon my honest interest, nay, liis 
own (and that of no small moment to New York, for it 
is the garrison's grainery), as to let that Lord go away 
with the only river and bay I have any interest in, who, 
besides that he has no right to them, needs them not, 
never had them and so looses nothing by the want of 
them, I humbly conceive is neither more able nor willing 
to serve the Duke there or here. I have done; only 
please to remember what I told the king at Windsor, who 
gratiously permitted me to render him my thanks and 
take my leave of him, to witt, that if ever any unhappy 
occasion came to try the truth of the assurance I gave 
the king of the quaker's unfactious and peaceable princi- 
ples towards him and his government, my life and estate 
on't they would not derogate from my character ; that if 
I could lye to any I would not choose to do it to him, 
whose goodness had not only obliged me, but also putt 
me more within his power to be even with me. This, it 
seems, is but too soon confirmed by the madness and folly 
of some evil and restless men. God defend these king- 
doms from blood and misery, and send us peace in our 
dayes; which I humbly wish my noble friend to think 
upon in behalf of my peaceable friends, lest men, even 
disinterested, that look on, should say with too much 
truth that in England, in times of dainger, there is no 
odds in being innocent. I shall add no more but my best 
wishes, and that I am with much zeal and affection, my 
noble friend, thy most oblieged and faithful friend, 

WM. PENN. 



446 



ORIGINAL LETTERS 



If I may pray, please to give my most humble duty to 
the King and Duke. 

For the Earle of Rochester. 

3. To the Marquis of Hallifax. 
Mt noble Friend, 

It is an unhappiness small folks are exposed to, that 
the discharge of their duty is an increase of their debt. 
I am one of those who am obheged to this acknowledge- 
ment, and yet the freedom of making it, needs an 
apology : but I take comfort in this, that I have to do 
with a very merciful creditor, one that is as -easy to 
forgive as ready to oblige; which is all the defence I 
shall make for myself in the liberty I take. I hope my 
agent hath presented thee with my last and the respects 
I bear so honourable a friend. I did in that give some 
account of our condition here, which (thanks be to God) 
mends upon us. Our capital town is advanced to about 
150 very tolerable houses for wooden ones; they are 
chiefly on both the navigable rivers that bound the ends 
or sides of the town. The farmers have got their winter 
corn in the ground. I suppose we may be 500 farmers 
strong. I settle them in villages, dividing five thousand 
acres among ten, fifteen, or twenty famiHes, as their 
abiUty is to plant it. GernKins, Dutch, and French are 
concern'd in our prosperity with their own ; for here are 
come three parties (one of each) as spyes to the multi- 
tude, they say, behinde, that on their report will also 
embarque with us. The Germans are fallen upon flax 
and hemp, the French on vineyards. Here grow wilde 



OF WILLIAM PENN. 447 

an incredible number of vines, that tho' savage and so not 
so excellent, beside that much wood and shade sower 
them, they yield a pleasant grape, and I have drunk a 
good clarett, though small and greenish, of Capt. Rappe's 
vintage of the savage grape. The only interruption I 
meet with is from the unkindness of my neighbour pro- 
prietor, the Lord Baltimore, who not only refuseth com- 
pliance to the king's commands, and the grant he and 
the duke have gratiously made me, but as impatient of 
the decision of our joynt soveraign, would anticipate that 
by indirect waies of his own, who to say true, by the 
course of his affaires, yields him as little regard as ever 
he can ; he taketh himself to be a prince, that, even to 
his fellow subject and brother proprietor, can of right 
determine differences by force, and we have been 
threatned with troops of horse (which are fine things to 
the wood) to reduce those parts in my possession to his 
power and greatness, aye though king and duke had them 
quietly before, and so were pleased to deliver them to me. 
And till I had preached another doctrine to him, as that 
the king was lord chief justice and high sheriff of 
America, that* he finally must judge, eject, and give pos- 
session, he refused to go with me to king and counsell : 
saying he had nothing to do with king and counsell, but 
would take his right where he could get it. He also told 
me, my patent had a proviso and exception of appeals, 
but his had not. I told him, that omission was not a 
priviledge but a prejudice in my opinion ; however, 
soveraignty was reserved I was sure, and, if the king was 
not appealable from Maryland, he was not soveraign of 



^48 ORIGINAL LETTERS 



Maryland, but the lord Baltimore. This softend [him?] 
a little to his duty, and now he pretends to referr, as do 
I, with an intire submission. My case I send as an 
answer to his demand; to which I only pray leave to 
add, that he never was in possession, and he consequently 
looseth nothing by the want of it, that he ever had. 
Further, he never claim'd it, not of the Dutch for 26 
years after his graunt, nor of the Swedes for seven and 
forty years, the one having the upper part of the river, 
the other, to wit the Dutch, the lower and all the bay: 
which in an improved county is a forfeiture by omission 
and neglect; more it must be in a wild place, ivhere the 
land is not the sixtieth part to the labour. To this I 
add, he never run his line, nor fixt his bounds; and with 
submission, where there are no boundaries, possessors, nor 
claymant, but long unquestion'd possession on another 
side, there can be no title pleadable against the planter; 
the maxim of the civil law holding good in this case,— 
Quae nullius sunt in bonis dantur occupanti. But this is 
not all; he needs it not; I do; without it I have nothing, 
and without it, he hath fourty brave harbours, having 
200 miles for 2 degrees of the bravest bay in the world, 
Cheasapeak, and that, on both sides, replenisht with 
many stately rivers and coves for the biggest ships. I 
have two that ships of two hundred tons perhaps may 
enter out of the river; in the bay, none but for small craft; 
and where right is, to be sure prudence and proportion 
will more than even the scale. I must (without vanity I 
can) say, I have lead the greatest colony into America 
that ever any man did upon a private credit, and the 



OF WILLIAM PENN. 449 

most prosperous beginnings that ever were in it, are to 
be found among us ; and, if this lord (who may remember 
that his country was cutt out of Virginia, to the great 
abatement of the interest of that province, and this not 
for debt or salaries due, but as meer grace) shall carry 
away this poor ewe lamb too, my voyage will be a ruin- 
ous one to me and my partners, which God defend. And, 
my honourable friend, I shall only pray that my case may 
be remember'd and recommended to the king by my 
noble friend, the marquis of Hallifax. I am not to be 
blamed for this liberty, when it shall be consider'd how 
great a place his witt, honour, and abilities have with the 
king, and how much, and with what success, he hath 
acted the friend to my poor concerns. I hope the inno- 
cency of our friends at this juncture hath not dishonoured 
the lord of Hallifax former favours to them ; as I take 
confidence to believe, that the innocency of men shall pro- 
tect them in England with their superiours in evill times, 
else the odds would be little in being such. I say no 
more, but pray God to reward all thy favours to them 
and me, and to give me leave to value myself upon the 
character of 

My Noble Friend. 

Thy very afiect. cordial 
friend to serve thee, 

Philadelphia, /Tie 9th of the 12th month, 1683. 

To THE Marquis of Hallifax. 



29 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



SIE WILLIAM KEITH 



THE FORMER GOYERNORS 



THE PEOVmCE OF PENNSYLVAmA. 



A MEMBER OF THE BIOGRAPHICAL COMMITTEE. 



(461) 



A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



SIE WILLIAM KEITH. 



At this distance of time little information can be had 
in respect to a man who died upwards of seventy years 
ago, and has left no descendants or connexions in the 
country. 

While he lived, he was an active and important organ 
of the provincial government, and may be conceived to 
have been a person of considerable mental powers. 

Where he was found, and why he was selected by 
William Penn to administer the executive government, is 
not now in our power to ascertain. His surname would 
indicate that Scotland was the place of his birth or of 
his extraction. He certainly was a man of education, 
and, perhaps, from some circumstances, we might be 
authorized to conjecture that he was of the profession of 

the law. 

In 1717 he succeeded Gookin, who had not been very 
popular, and the difference of his manners soon rendered 

(453) 



454 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

him a favorite of the people. His first address to the 
Assembly was calculated to win their affections at the 
expense of his own dignity. 

We cannot at this time thoroughly comprehend some 
parts of the services which he alleges that he has already 
rendered. 

Why he should have undertaken to present to the 
" Prince Regent" the address of the Assembly to the king, 
and why it should have been an " expensive application," 
we know not. 

He next claims a credit with the people of this pro- 
vince, on the score of his having diUgently, and at a con- 
siderable charge, obtained the commission of governor. 
We can hardly suppose that William Penn exposed the 
office to sale. 

These are some of the mysteries which frequently 
accompany transactions of remote times, when no cotem- 
porary pains are taken to prepare evidence. 

On the death of William Penn, which shortly after- 
wards ensued. Sir William Keith appears to have been 
inclined to promote the interests of the elder branch; 
although the will of the illustrious proprietor strongly 
indicated that he considered the elder branches fully 
provided for by the Irish estate which devolved on them, 
and that the entire interest he held in the province of 
Pennsylvania should appertain to his children by Hannah 
Callowhill. 

William Penn, the eldest son by the first wife, con- 
ceiving himself entitled to the government, whoever might 
be proprietor of the soil, soon sent out a commission to 



OF SIR WILLIAM KEITH. 455 

Keith, appointing him deputy governor ; which the latter 
accepted, although at the same time in a studied and 
ambiguous message to the Assembly he intimated some 
doubts — and he must have felt dissatisfaction at the 
widow's having transmitted the copy of the will to James 
Logan, without any communication to him. 

In the mean time a perfect harmony between himself 
and the Assembly continued ; they approved of his vigil- 
ance in respect to some Indians; they assented to his 
establishing a Court of Chancery, in which he presided ; 
and the only dissatisfaction that his public conduct for a 
long time excited, seems to have been his preference of 
the dignity of this court to the conscientious scruples of 
the Friends. John Kinsey, a lawyer of considerable 
eminence, who was afterwards Chief Justice of the pro- 
vince, refused, from religious scruples, to uncover his head 
in the court, and an officer was directed to take off his 
hat. The Quarterly Meeting presented a very respectful 
address to the governor (which may be seen in Pi-aucFs 
History), and an order of court was thereon made, de- 
claring that keeping the head covered should not be con- 
strued into a contempt of court, but be considered as an 
act of religious liberty. Why he, who had before that 
time claimed so much credit for the pains he had taken 
to procure the sanction of parliament toythe admission of 
an affirmation in lieu of an oath, should have shown his 
disregard of a religious peculiarity to which the Friends 
were well known to be sincerel}' attached, it is difficult to 
conceive. It must for a time have diminished that popu- 
larity which with so much pains he had already acquired ; 



4^6 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

and he could not jDlead ignorance of their pertinacious 
adherence to a practice for which, in the opinion of the 
Society, there is the greatest authority. 

I notice this particular as indicating the character of 
the man, without intendmg to enter into the history of 
his public administration. This history may be partly 
collected from the plain and impartial narrative of Prmid, 
and partly from the panegyric of the Historical Review, 
printed in London, in 1749, and by many attributed to 
Dr. FrankHn. Both agree that when his commission as 
Governor was suspended by the appointment of Patrick 
Gordon in 1726, he obtamed a seat in the House of 
Assembly, as a representative from Bucks County, and 
that he took all the means in his power " to divide the 
province, embarrass the Governor, and distress the pro- 
prietaries." 

He afterwards went to England, and soon afterwards 
addressed to the king a representation on iX^^ state of the 
colonies in North America, which has been inserted at 
length in Burlis History of Virghiia (printed at Peters- 
burg, in 1805). It is in some respects a very valuable 
document, as it embraces an. account of the produce, com- 
merce, and consumption of this country in 1728,'more 
distinct and perhaps more accurate than can be' found 
elsewhere. He represents that the colonies then took off 
one-sixth of the woollens of Great Britain, more than 
double that value of their linens and calicoes, a consider- 
able quantity of East India goods, great quantities of 
English silks, &c., and he describes their naval commerce 
as very great and constantly increasing. He proposes 



OF SIR "WILLIAM KEITH. 457 

some schemes for consolidating the Provincial Govern- 
ments, and enlarging and systematizing the power of the 
Crown; one of which is (probably with a view to an 
appointment in his own favor), that judges shall be sent 
out from England with a jurisdiction over the whole 
country, and to be independent of the Provincial Legis- 
latures. 

This advice, although well calculated to increase and 
prolong the royal authority, w^as not attended to, or 
perhaps was found impracticable. 

Disappointed in this quarter, he made an effort to sup- 
port himself as an author; and, in the year 1738, he 
published a history of the colony of Virginia, proposing to 
proceed with histories of the other colonies ; but it is pro- 
bable that this work, although not ill written, was not 
very successful, for he proceeded no further in his design. 
He died, it is said, in great poverty, in London, about 
1749. His widow. Lady Keith, survived him several 
years. She lived immured in a small wooden house, in 
Third Street between Market and Arch Streets, with an 
old female attendant as companion, refusing all connnuni- 
cation with society, and reduced to great difficulties for 
subsistence. The house itself, long after her decease, was 
rendered memorable by one of those melancholy casu- 
ahties which sometimes occur, even in populous cities 
where help is most at hand. In the year 1786, it was 
consumed by fire, and four persons perished in the 

flames. 

Sir William Keith seems to have been a selfish and an 
artful man, whose true character *v as perhaps not known 



458 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, ETC. 

to William Penn at the time of his being appointed. His 
first ostensible attachment was to the popular interest in 
opposition to that of his employer, the proprietary ; and 
his evident object was to enrich himself, not to contribute 
to the relief of the family at home. His next public step 
was to promote the interest of the elder branch instead 
of the younger. In this, he discoverod little penetration ; 
he offended those who he might easily discover had the 
power to injure him, and courted the favor of those who 
had no permanent benefits to bestow. 

The remnant of his hfe was embittered by the con- 
sciousness of disappointed ambition and the pressure of 
hopeless poverty. He saw the younger branch, which he 
had opposed, rising rapidly in wealth and consequence, 
and the province, under the temperate administration of 
Gordon, peaceable, prosperous, and contented. 

In the work I have last mentioned it is said that the 
" ghosts of departed governors" were to be frequently seen 
wandering about the vast metropolis of the British 
Empire ; and among these, perhaps, that of Sir Wilham 
Keith was not the least querulous and unhappy. 



NOTES. 



459 



SIR WILLIAM KEITH, DR. GR.'EME, AND MRS. FERGUSSON. 

Sir William Keith, whose grandfather was created a baronet of 
Nova Scotia in 1663, " was of the family of Powburn in the north of 
Scotland," and came to America in May, 1117, with his wife Ann, 
who at the time of her marriage, was the widow of Robert Diggs. 
By this marriage Sir William had no issue, although by a former he 
had certainly two, if not more, children. 

Alexander Henry Keith, who is described in a deed and in a 
mort-age upon record as his " eldest surviving son," and of "New 
Castle on Delaware," appears to have died before 1749, and Robert, 
who at that date is mentioned as his only son and the inheritor of the 
title was a lieutenant-colonel in the Prussian service. In 1718 Sir 
William purchased what was afterwards, when it became the pro- 
perty of Dr. Gr^me, known as " Gr^me Park"-a tract of 1200 acres 
in Horsham Township, and formerly in Philadelphia, but now in 
Montgomery County, about eighteen miles northwest of the city, where 
he erected a spacious house. The following description will convey 
an idea of its character: " The ancient house is still standing (1855) 
in good preservation, although at present* unoccupied, and is built ot 
the brown sandstone of the neighborhood. On measurement I found 
it sixty feet in front and twenty-five in depth. Each story is divided 
into three rooms; the drawing-room, which occupies the north end 
of the building, is twenty-one feet square and fourteen feet high. Its 
walls are elegantly wainscotted to the ceiling, and the fire-place and 
mantel are composed of clouded marble brought from England. _ lu 
the fire-place of the second-story room on the south end ^^ an ^^o^ 
plate with the date 1728. The rooms to the very roof are all hand- 
somely finished with mouldings on the ceilings. The stairs and 
banisters are extremely substantial, and built of oak. On the ront 
wall of the house the remains of an ivy are seen. On the wall ot 
the south end is a vigorous young trumpet flower (bignonia) growing, 
said to be a shoot of one which grew there in Mrs. Fergusson s time, 
and to the writer was an object of interest. In the rear is a fish 
pond, supplied by a spring of excellent water near by. The house 
as wdl as fish pond were built by Governor Keith between the years 
1722 and 1728 ; everything else about the premises is modern. 

Lossing,in his recent biographical work entitled " Our Country- 
men," says, "The only baronial hall yet in existence m the United 
States is that of Sir William Johnson, at Johnstown, a few miles 



460 



NOTES, 



north of the Mohawk River." Graeme Park is perhaps the only 
exception to this statement, and was built a number of years previous 
to Johnson Hall. 

Sir William, after many vicissitudes, died on the 18th of November, 
lt49, in the Old Bailey, London (Gentleman's Magazine, 1T49, p! 
524), and Lady Keith July 31, 1Y40, aged sixty-five, and was buried 
in Christ Church-yard, Second street. 

Dr. Thomas Gramme, who came to America with Keith, " was born 
at the family seat at Balgowan, in Perthshire, Scotland, October 20, 
1688," and was married in Christ Church, Philadelphia, November 
12, in9, to Ann Diggs, a lady of considerable mental endowments 
and great worth of character, who was the only child of Lady Keith 
by her former husband, Robert Diggs, already mentioned.* 

Dr. Grffime was a person " of excellent education and agreeable 
manners," and, in the words of Dr. Rush, " for nearly half a century 
maintained the front rank in his profession." In 1Y26 he was 
appointed by his wife's stepfather, Governor Keith, a member of the 
Council; on the 8th of April, 1731, a Judge of the Supreme Court 
of the province, a position which he retained until 1T50 ; from lt51 
to 1Y53 he was physician and surgeon to the Pennsylvania Hospital, 
and, besides other offices, held for many years that of Collector of 
the Port of Philadelphia. His city residence was on the north side 
of Chestnut, below Seventh street, on the site afterwards occupied 
by the Arcade, then a very rural spot. During a portion of the year 
he lived at the "Park," the seat of elegant hospitality, and to which 
the attractive influence of his accomplished daughter lent an additional 
charm, and it was here that, on the 14th of September, 1*772, he sud- 
denly died, aged eighty-four years. 

Dr. Grseme had eleven children, the most celebrated of whom was 
Elizabeth, born February 3, 1739, and who, April 21, 1772, became 
the wife of Henry Hugh Fergusson, a native of Scotland, and who 
was related to the celebrated Adam Fergusson. The Revolution 
separated them, and it was Mrs. Fergusson's lot to spend but two 

* Francis Hopkinson, while on a visit to Grseme Park, in 1765, composed an 
elegy to the memory of this lady. These are the concluding lines : 

"Oh! may I strive her footsteps to pursue, 
And keep the Christian's glorious prize in view; 
Like her defy the stormy waves of life, 
And with heroic zeal maintain the strife; 
Like her find comfort in the arms of death, 
And in a peaceful calm resign my breath." 



NOTES. 461 

and a half years of her married life with her husband. The literary 
abilities of Mrs. Fergusson were considerable. She also wrote very 
graceful poetry. Possessing an excellent mind, cultivated by careful 
and extensive reading and study, also very remarkable powers of 
conversation, with much amiability of character, Mrs. Fergusson was 
greatly esteemed and her society much sought. 

During the Revolutionary war she evinced friendship for her coun- 
try, and by Washington was held in much regard, who more than 
once was hospitably entertained at Grteme Park. 

Mrs. Fergusson died without issue 23d of February, 1801, aged 
sixty-two years. 

Jane Graeme, a sister of Mrs. Fergusson, became the wife of Mr. 
James Young, and had three children. Ann, the eldest child, married 
William Smith, M. D., a graduate in ITTl of the Medical Department 
of the College of Philadelphia. The late Samuel F. Smith, for some 
years President of the Philadelphia Bank, was a son by this marriage, 
and Mrs. Ann Young Smith inherited the literary talent of the family, 
and also wrote verse with facility and grace. The following lines are 
from her pen. 

AN ELEGY TO THE MEMORY OF THE AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS WHO 
FELL IN THE ENGAGEMENT AT LEXINGTON ON THE 19tH OF APRIL, 
1115. 

Let joy be dumb, let mirth's gay carol cease, 
See plaintive sorrow come bedew'd with tears; 

With mournful steps retires the cherub peace, 
And horrid war with all his train appears. 

He comes, and crimson slaughter marks his way, 

Stern famine follows in his vengeful tread; 
Before him pleasure, hope, and love decay. 

And meek-eyed mercy hangs the drooping head. 

Fled like a dream are those delightful hours, 
When here with innocence and peace we roved, 

Secure and happy in our native bowers, 

Blest in the presence of the youths we loved. 

The blow is struck, which thro' each future ago 

Shall call from pity's eye the frequent tear; 
Which gives the brother to the brother's rngc. 

And dyes with British blood the British spear. 



462 NOTES. 

Where'er the barb'rous story shall he told, 

The British cheek shall glow with conscious flame. 

This deed in bloody characters enroll'd, 
Shall stain the lustre of their former name. 

But you, ye brave defenders of our cause. 
The first in this dire contest call'd to bleed, 

Your names hereafter crown'd with fresh applause 
Each manly breast with joy-mixt woe shall read. 

Your memories, dear to every free-born mind, 
Shall need no monument your fame to raise; 

Forever in our grateful hearts enshrined, 
And blest by your united country's praise. 

But oh ! permit the muse with grief sincere 
The widow's heartfelt anguish to bemoan, 

To join the sister's and the orphan's tear, 

Whom this sad day from all they loved has torn. 

Blest be this humble strain, if it imparts 

The dawn of peace to but one pensive breast; 

If it can hush one sigh that rends your hearts, 
Or lull your sorrow to a short liv'd rest. 

But vain the hope, too well the bosom knows 
How faint is glory's voice to nature's calls ; 

How weak the balm the laurel wreath bestows. 
To heal our breast when love or friendship falls. 

Yet think they in their country's cause expired. 
While guardian angels watch'd their parting sighs, 

Their dying breasts with constancy inspired, 
And bade them welcome to their native skies. 

Our future state is wrapt in darkest gloom. 

And threat'ning clouds, from which their souls are freed, 

Ere the big tempest bursts they press the tomb. 
Not doora'd to see their much loved country bleed. 

Oh! let such thoughts as these assuage your grief, 
And stop the tear of sorrow as it flows. 

Till time's all-powerful hand shall yield relief, 
And shed a kind oblivion o'er your woes. 

But oh ! thou Being infinitely just. 

Whose boundless eye with mercy looks on all. 

On Thee alone thy humble people trust, 
On Thee alone for their deliverance call. 



NOTES. 463 

Long did Thy hand unniimber'd blessings shower, 
And crown our land with liberty and peace ; 

Extend, Lord, again Thy saving power, 
And bid the horrors of invasion cease. 

But if Thy awful wisdom has decreed 

That we severer evils yet shall know, 
By thy Almighty justice doom'd to bleed. 

And deeper drink the bitter draughts of woe, 

Oh, grant us. Heaven, that constancy of mind, 

Which over adverse fortune rises still, 
Unshaken faith, calm fortitude, resign'd. 

And full submission to Thy holy will. 

To Thee, eternal parent, we resign 

Our bleeding cause, and in Thy wisdom rest ; 
With grateful hearts we bless Thy power divine. 
And own resign'd, "whatever is, is best." 

SrtviA. 
Philadelphia, May 2, 1775. 

The particulars of this sketch are derived from the materials kindly 
placed at our disposal by Mr. J. B. Lippincott, which were gathered 
by the late Mr. Henry C. Wctmore in view of the publication of 
a work principally relating to Grasme Park, and those associated 
with its history and with that of the Revolution. The appearance 
of the volume, we regret to say, was arrested by the death of its 
lamented author. 

Some account of the political character of Keith may be found in 
a "Narrative" written in 1'726, and edited by Mr. Joshua Francis 
Fisher; in which the conduct of Sir William during his government 
of the province is very severely dealt with. — Memoirs of Ilistorical 
Society, vol. ii. part 2. — Editor. 



MEMBERS OF THE IlISTOrxICAL SOCIETY 
NEWLY ELECTED. 



CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS. 

George Fox, Jacob R. Smith, 

Richard Penn Smith,* Paul Beck, Jr.,* 

Richard C. Wood,* Levett Harris,* 

Dr. George B. Wood, James C. Fisher,* 

Turner Camac,* Thomas Hufi;hes. 



CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 

John N. Conyngham, Luzerne County. 
Joseph W. Rowland, Montgomery County* 
Frederick Smith, Berlis County^' 
Charles B. Penrose, Cumberland County* 
Isaac A. Chapman, Liizerne County* 
Thomas Wistar, Jr., Montgomery County* 
George Taylor, Pottsville, Pa* 
James Cox, Bucks County* 
Samuel Wagner, York Connty* 
Wilham H. Dillingham, Clientcr County* 
Alexander Thompson, Bedford County* 

30 (465) 



466 MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY, ETC. 



HONORARY MEMBERS. 

General La Fayette, La Grange [France).'^ 
The Marquis de Marbois, Francej^ 
Chevalier Botta, Italy. ^ 
Charles Smith, Baltimore,^ 
Charles Wilkes, New Yo7'lcf^' 
The Rev. Jedediah Morse, New Haven. {Conn.)* 
Daniel Lyman, Pi^cmidence [Rliode Island).* 
Richard Stockton, Princeton [New Jersey) .* 
Thomas Horsfield, M.D., London:^ 



APPENDIX 



Note I. (Page 32.) 
LIST OF THE PILGRIMS OF THE "WELCOME." 

It is to be regretted that there is no record of the names of those 
who accompanied Penn. We are not aware even of an attempt to 
collect the scattered information on the subject; but from sources 
hitherto unexplored we have been able to present a very nearly com- 
plete list of the pilgrims of the "Welcome," and whoso names should 
not be permitted to die. Of the one hundred who are said to have 
sailed, although the number was probably greater, our catalogue 
embraces ninety-seven, and since the "families" of Ellen Cowgill 
and Cuthbert Hayhurst are mentioned as having embarked with 
Penn, we think we are justified in pronouncing the roll almost 
perfect. 

The principal sources of proof in preparing the subjoined list were 
found in the wills of Barber, Heriott, Ingram, and Wade, in the 
Register's Office at Philadelphia, which wore made on board the 
" Welcome," and all of whom probably died on the voyage ; in a 
" MS. Registry of Arrivals," in the Recorder's Office at Doylestown ; 
"MS. Registry of Arrivals," Archives of Historical Society;* and in 
" Comly's History of Byberry," 2d vol. of Memoirs of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania. 

John Barber (1) and Elizabeth (2) his wife, eldest daughter of 
John Songhurst, of Shipley, county of Sussex, England (See his will, 
made on board " Welcome,"f September 20, 1G82, Will Book, A. p. 
10), was "a first purchaser." 

* Imperfect and extending over but a few years. 

f Robert Grcenaway, tlie master of the ''Welcome," died 14th April, 1680. 
(Adm. Book, A, p. 27, Philadelphia.) 

(407) 



468 APPENDIX. 

William Bradford (3) (See Dixon's Life of Penn, p. 208), of 
Leicester, England, the earliest printer of the province. Engaging 
zealously in the Keithean controversy, " he took the side of the 
minority, and becoming unpopular on that account, in 1693 removed 
to New York, where, on 16th October, 1125, he established the 
' New York Gazette,' the first newspaper published in that city, and 
after an active and useful life, died in 1152, aged eighty-nine." (2 
Thomas' Hist. Printing, pp. 7, 286, and Mr. Wharton's Notes on the 
Provincial Literature of Pennsylvania. Mem. of Hist. Society.) 
[Since the compilation of this list some doubt has been expressed as 
to his having sailed with Penn. We are induced to agree with Mr. 
Wallace in his address, already noticed, and are still unchanged in 
opinion, from the facts presented, that Bradford came with Penn.] 

William Buckman, (4) Mary, (5) his wife, and children, Sarah (6) 
and Mary, (1) of the parish of Billinghurst, Sussex. (Registry of 
Arrivals.) 

John Carver (8) and Mary (9) his wife, of Hertfordshire (see 
Comly's History of Byberry, in 2d vol. of Memoirs of Historical 
Society, p. 181), suffered in 1681 in the persecution of the Quakers in 
England (1 Besse, p. 196); a first purchaser; died in 1114. 

Benjamin Chambers (10) (mentioned in its probate as having 
with John Songhurst written the will of William Wade), of Roches- 
ter, Kent (see " Friends' certificates from England," recorded at Phila- 
delphia*), was sheriff, in 1683, of the city and county of Philadel- 
phia, and his name frequently appears as a participant in public affairs. 
(1 Col. Records, pp. 30, 51, 301, &c.) 

Thomas Croasdale, (11) and "Agnes (12) his wife, and six 
children," (13-18) of Yorkshire. (Certificate, dated 4 month, June, 
1682, of Settle Monthly Meeting, Yorkshire; Comly's Byberry, 2 
Memoirs Historical Society, p. 182, in note.) On the authority of 
Mr. Robert Wain, Mr. Comly states that those whose names were 
embraced in that certificate came in the "Welcome." 

Ellen Cowgill (19) and "family." (Certificate from Settle 
Monthly Meeting.) 

John Fisher, (20) Margaret (21) his wife, and son John. (22) 
(On authority of papers in possession of Mr. Thomas Gilpin, of 
Philadelphia.) 

Thomas Fitzwater (23) and sons, Thomas (24) and George, (25) 
of Hamworth, Middlesex. His wife Mary, (26) and children, Josiah 

* We are indebted for a copy of these to Mr. James S. Lippincott. 



APPENDIX. 469 

(2T) and Mary, (28) died on the passage. (See Registry of Arrivals.) 
Settled in county of Bucks, and was a member of Assembly from that 
county in 1683; active in public life, a valuable citizen, and eminent 
member in his society. Died 6th October, 1699. (1 Proud, p. 422.) 

Thomas Gillett. (29) (Witness to will of John Barber.) 

Bartholomew Greex. (30) (Registry of Arrivals, Hist. Soc.) 

Nathaniel Harrison. (31) (Idem.) 

CuTHBERT Hayuurst, (32) " his wife (33) and family." (Certifi- 
cate from Settle Meeting.) Suffered in 1661 and 1668 on account of 
his religious principles. (1 Besse, 571 ; 2 do. 102.) A first purchaser. 
Born at Easington, in Bollaud, Yorkshire ; died in Bucks, 5th March, 
1682-3, aged Mty. (Collection of Memorials, p. 1.) 

Thomas Heriott, (34) of Hurst-Pier-Point, Sussex. (See Nun- 
cupative will declared on board "Welcome," 19th September, 1682, 
Book A, p. 4.) Suffered in England on account of his religious prin- 
ciples. (1 Besse, 121.) A first purchaser. 

John Hey. (35) (Registry of Arrivals.) 

Richard Ingelo. (36) (Witness to the Avill of Isaac Ingram.) Was 
clerk of Prov. Council in 1685. (1 Col. Rec. 81.) 

Isaac Ingram, (37) of Gatton, Surry. (See will made 26th Sep- 
tember, 1682, on board "Welcome," Book A, p. 11.) Suffered on 
account of his religious principles. (1 Besse, 699.) 

Thomas Jones. (38) (Registry of Arrivals, Hist. Soc.) 

Giles Knight, (39) Mary (40) his wife, and son Joseph, (41) of 
Gloucestershire. Settled in Bucks, and died November, 1726, in his 
seventy-fourth year, and his wife in 1732, in her seventy-seventh 
year. (Comly's Bj^berry, 179.) 

William Lushington. (42) (Witness to the will of William 
Wade.) 

Jeane Matthews. (43) (Registry of Arrivals, Hist. Soc.) 

Hannah Mogdridge. (44) (Registry of Arrivals.) 

Joshua Morris. (45) (Witness to will of Thomas Heriott.) 

David Ooden. (46) (Witness to will of Thomas Heriott.) Pro- 
bably from London. (See Records of Friends' certificates.) 

Evan Oliver, (47) with Jean (48) his wife, and children, David, 
(49) Elizabeth, (50) John, (51) Hannah, (52) Mary, (53) Evan, (54) 
and Seaborn, (55) of Radnorshire, Wales. The last, "a daughter 
born at sea, October 24, 1682, almost within sight of the capes of 
Delaware." (MS. Record in possession of Mr. Merrit Canby.) 

Pearson. (56) Stated by Clarkson, vol. i. p. 259, to have 

accompanied Penn, and that name of Upland was changed at his 



470 APPENDIX. 

request to that of Chester, from which city he came. We have not 
ascertained his first name, though we find a Thomas Pearson returned 
as a member of Assembly from county of New Castle, 16th October, 
1100. (1 Col. Rec. 590.) But as this Thomas was probably the 
same who had an interest in "West Jersey, and who was from 
Bonwicke, Yorkshire (I Proud, 143, in note), it was more likely 
" Robert," of Cheshire, a Friend, and mentioned in 1 Besse, 105. 
An Edward Peirson resided at Darby, and previously to 1698 re- 
moved to Bucks. 

Dennis Rochford, (51) of Emstorfey, county of Wexford, Ireland, 
and wife Mary, (58) daughter of John Heriott, of Hurst-Pier-Point; 
daughters Grace (59) and Mary (60) died at sea. (Registry of Arrivals, 
Hist. Soc.) 

John Rowland (61) and Priscilla (62) his wife, of Billinghursf, 
Sussex. (Registry of Arrivals.) A first purchaser. 

Thomas Rowland, (63) also of Billtnghurst, Sussex. '(Registry 
of Arrivals.) A first purchaser; died November, 1T08. 

John Sharples, (64) of Ratherton, county Chester, Jane (65) his 
wife, and children, Phebe, (66) John, (67) James, (68) Caleb, (69) 
Jane, (tO) and Joseph ; (tl) Thomas (72) died at sea. Papers in pos- 
session of Mr. Benjamin Ferris, of Wilmington. A first purchaser; 
settled near Chester. 

William Smith. (73) (Registry of Arrivals, Hist. Soc.) 

John Songhurst (74) (see probate to will of William Wade), from 
Ckillington, Sussex (see list of first purchasers), and Whiting says 
of Coneyhurst, Sussex, but more likely of Hitchingfield, Sussex, and 
who suifered for his religious views. (1 Besse, 715, 719.) A warm 
friend of the Proprietary ; a member of first Assembly held at Phila- 
delphia, and of subsequent Assemblies. (1 Votes, 7, 34, 46,) A 
writer in defence of the Quakers, and eminent minister in his Society. 
(Whiting's Catalogue, 160.) Died, 1688. (1 Proud, 237.) 

John Stackhouse (75) and Margery (76) his wife, of Yorkshire. 
(Certificate of Settle Meeting.) 

George Thompson. (77) (Witness to wills of Heriott, Barber, 
Ingram, and Wade.) 

Richard Townsend, (78) wife Anne, (79) and son, James, (80) 
" born on Welcome," in Delaware River. (Abingdon Records.) "A 
person of an approved character." (1 Proud, 228.) Of London. 
(List of first purchasers.) An eminent minister in his Society, and 
died in May, 1737. (Collec. Mem. 102.) 



APPENDIX. 471 

Hannah, (81) daughter of Richard Townscnd. (Ecgistry of 
Arrivals, Hist. Soc.) 

William Wade, (82) of parish of Eankton, Sussex. (See will 
made 20th September, 1682, on "Welcome," A, p. 13.) 

Thomas Walmesly, (83^^ Elizabeth (84) his wife, and sons, Thomas 
(85) and Henry, (86) a daughter, (81) and three other children, (88-90) 
of Yorkshire. (Certificate of Settle Meeting.) Died, November, 1652, 
aged forty. (Comly's Byberry, 182. j 

Nicholas Waln, (91) wife, (92), and three children, (93-95) of 
Yorkshire. (Certificate of Settle Meeting.) A member from Bucks 
of first Assembly held at Philadelphia, and of subsequent Assemblies; 
prominent in early history of province ; a first purchaser; died, August, 
1T44. 

Joseph Woodroofe. (96) (Witness to will of John Barber.) 

Thomas Wkightsworth (97) "and wife," (98/ of Yorkshire. (Cer- 
tificate from Settle Meeting.) 

Thomas Wynne, (99) " Chirurgeon," of Caerwys, Flintshire, North 
Wales. (Witness to will of Thomas Heriott.) Speaker of the first 
two Assemblies held at Philadelphia ; afterwards a member in 1687 
and 1688. A magistrate for county Sussex. Wrote several tracts 
in defence of his Society (Whiting's Cat. 206), and was, says Proud 
(vol. i. p. 237), " a person of note and character." Chestnut street, 
in Philadelphia, was originally named after him. Died, March, 
1691-2. 



Note II. (Page 165.) 
JAMES D U N L P. 

James Dunlop was born at Chambersburg, in this State, in the 
year 1795, and was the son of Andrew Dunlop, a prominent member 
of the bar of that place, a man of superior talents, and who had 
married Sarah Bella Chambers, the daughter of James Chambers. 

"About the year 1726 four brothers of Scottish descent, residents 
of the county of Antrim, Ireland, allured by the bright prospects of 
fortune in the New World, forsook the comforts of a pleasant home 
and the familiar scenery of the picturesque Lough Neagh, and wended 
their way to the distant province of Pennsylvania."* These brothers 

* Chambersburg in the colony and the Revolution, by Lewis II. Garrard. Pub- 
lished by the Historical Society, 1856. 



472 APPENDIX. 

established themselves in the valley of the Conococheague, and Ben- 
jamin became the founder of Chambersburg. James, the son of 
Benjamin, by the first marriage of the latter, was the grandfather of 
the subject of our notice, and a colonel at the battle of Brandywine. 

Mr. Dunlop entered Dickinson College, and after his graduation, 
in 1812, pursued the study of the law with his father, and was 
admitted to the bar of Chambersburg. Judge Grier, of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, and to whom we are mainly indebted 
for our facts, was his roommate and classmate, and the late Rev. 
John Knox, D. D., of the Dutch Reformed Church in New York city, 
and the late Calvin Blythe were fellow students. Mr. Dunlop at 
college is represented to have been " a wit, with a vein of satire, yet 
always amiable, and his standing as a scholar was on a level with 
the best." 

After his admission to the bar he practiced with success, but dis- 
contented with the slow gains of a country practice, was. induced to 
favor schemes with a view to the more rapid accumulation of wealth. 
Before the removal by Jackson of the deposits from the United States 
Bank, he was an active adherent of the Democratic party, but after 
that event he joined the opposition. Entering, and as it proved, 
rather injudiciously, into the manufacture of edge tools, at a meet- 
ing of protective tariff manufacturers in New York, he made a 
speech, in which he styled himself a blacksmith, and excited much 
astonishment that one of that calling should exhibit so much know- 
ledge and ability. 

Mr. Dunlop was elected to the State Senate, and was a member of 
that body at the time he prepared his paper on the boundary question. 
He was afterwards twice elected to the lower House. In 1838 a 
member of the Convention to reform the Constitution of the State, 
he distinguished himself for the learning and ability displayed in 
debate. Removing to Pittsburg, he obtained a fair practice, and was 
much dreaded by the junior members of the bar, who were unfamiliar 
with the rules of pleading, for his wit and astuteness, but yet never 
ventured to unjustly and unnecessarily wound. In 1855 he came to 
Philadelphia to reside. 

From an obituary in a Pittsburg journal of April 26, 1856, Mr. 
Dunlop is described as " a lawyer who had but few superiors. A 
close student and an able thinker, he soon raised himself to the first 
position at the bar, and continued to hold it until called away from 
the more active duties of his profession by other pursuits. He was 
the compiler of the well-known Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania 



APPENDIX. 473 

which bears his name, and also of a Digest of the Laws of the United 
States." 

When on a visit to his friend, Mr. Charles F. Mayer, of the Balti- 
more bar, Mr. Dunlop was attacked by paralysis, and died in that 
city on the 9th of April, 1856. 

"We are not aware that any specimen of Mr. Dunlop's peculiar 
humor exists, except that which may be found in a pamphlet bearing 
the curious title of " Forensic Tour in the United States, by the Hon. 
John Philip Refalo, Sergeant at Law, of Grey's Inn, London. In a 
series of letters to his friend in Liverpool." The series is one letter 
of sixteen pages — where, in a vein of humorous exaggeration, he 
attempts to hit oS" some of the personal peculiarities of the members 
of the Supreme Bench of that day, and which we believe have entirely 
disappeared in the more modern and decorous manners of their 
learned successors. He particularly " lampoons a celebrated and 
eccentric opinion of the late Chief Justice Gibson." 

" On entering the court-house, I was surprised to find the judges 
sitting in their ordinary dress, and consequently wanting in that 
grave taciturnity which is thrown around an English bench by the 
judicial costume. I soon discovered that they were, upon the whole, 
an odd set of fish, each one being distinguished by some peculiar 
singularity. 

" One of them was couched as low as he could get on his chair, and 
had his legs twisted around each other several times like a couple of 
Demerara grape vines or the strands of a rope, and was picking his 
teeth with his pen ; another had thrown his feet over the bench, and 
was leaning back and gouging the kernels out of what they call shell- 
barks ; one of the others was cutting a stick and whistling Yankee 
Doodle. ********** 

" But what struck me most particularly as a novelty was the 
manner in which the bench or raised platform, on which their honors 
were located, was arranged. Each judge was separated from his 
fellow by a close partition of two inch plank, reaching above their 
heads, and extending so near the front as merely to leave room to 
pass. Upon inquiring of my friend, the counsellor, the meaning of 
this strange subdivision like the stalls of a stable, he informed me it 
was done in pursuance of a law of the legislature. lie said that it 
was found by the experience of late years, that whilst the judges 
were allowed an unrestricted intercommunion of opinion, they in- 
dulged their loquacity to such a degree on the bench that little or no 



474 APPENDIX. 

business could be transacted, and that, instead of listening to the 
arguments of counsel, they generally discussed the cause themselves. 
This propensity to judicial colloquium had grown so inveterate, that 
whenever a cause was broached the court found themselves unable 
to preserve their taciturnity ; the sight of a brief recalled their old 
vocations, and stimulated their tongues somewhat in the way a bottle 
operates upon the fancies of a drunkard, or a pack of cards upon a 
gamester who had sworn off. There seeming to be no other cure 
for it, the bar had unanimously petitioned the Legislature to restrain 
the judges from the discussion of causes on the bench, and a law was 
accordingly passed, requiring the sheriffs of the several counties to 
divide the bench into stalls, separated by close partitions of two inch 
plank, and so constructed as to prevent entirely the intimation of 
opinion to each other. The judges kicked very much at the law at 
first, and refused to go into the stalls, alleging that it was an uncon- 
stitutional interference on the part of the Legislature , with the 
judiciary, but it not being a clear case, they finally submitted. And 
to be up with the bar for their interference, they ordered little curtains 
to be hung in front of their compartments, and if they find a lawyer 
talking nonsense, which is not unusual, or wide of the point, or out 
of the record, they draw their little screens before them and retire 
from the debate. For they had laid it down, after solemn argument 
amongst themselves, that no one but a judge had a right to travel out 
of the record. Whenever an advocate, therefore, finds all the curtains 
across the judicial divisions, and the countenances of their honors 
consequently withdrawn, he takes it for granted that they are dead 
against him, or that he is sailing away from his cause, and that he 
must alter his course or proceed without an audience. The judges, 
in extenuation of this seeming want of decorum, insist that, though 
the advocate may have a right to argue his cause, they can hear as 
well behind their curtains as if they were drawn aside, and that, if 
they are bound to listen to the speech, there is no constitutional in- 
junction on them to look at the speaker. The counsellor, however, 
further added, that the stall regulation, as it was called, had not 
answered the purpose, and that a new petition was in circulation, 
praying the Legislature to remove the partitions entirely, it having 
been found, by experience, that the evil was rather aggravated than 
lessened by the experiment. For the judges, not being able to talk 
to each other, made up for the restraint by taking it out with the 
bar ; and it sometimes happened that every one of them would be 
asking questions, suggesting doubts, and putting cases to the advo- 



APPENDIX. 475 

cate at once ; and the poor lawyer arguing the cause often felt like 
Dr. Last in the play, subjected to more perplexing queries than he 
could manage to answer. 

" Shortly after we had entered the court room, the judges wero 
handed little manuscripts, which the Bay counsellor kindly informed 
me were what the lawyers call paper books ; an appellation which, 
he remarked, not seeming to understand its origin, he thought curious 
enough, seeing that all books are made of papei*. 

" One of the laAvyers had just risen to open his cause, but as soon as 
he got fairly on his feet, the judges, to a man, instantly abandoned 
their paper books, and began to pour in their questions on him. One 
of them asked him the name of the defendant, another the name of 
the plaintiff, a third the cause of action, a fourth, who were the bail 
in error, and a fifth, why he had not brought trover instead of re- 
plevin. When the lawyer replied to the first query, and gave the 
name of the defendant, the judge who had asked for the name of the 
plaintiff, thinking that the answer was directed to him, said that there 
must be some mistake, for on his paper book the name given him was 
that of the defendant. The law^yer, however, set him right by in- 
forming him that his reply was directed to his honor in the adjoining 
stall. When he began, in answer to the judge who wished to know 
why he had preferred trover to replevin, to state his reasons for 
adopting the former action, they all cried out, uno flatu, for him to 
proceed with his argument, and not waste the time of the court with 
matters de hors the record. The lawyer looked flat, begged pardon, 
and alleging in excuse, that he had been asked the question by one 
of their honors, began to state the first point of his argument. But 
he had scarcely got fairly under way, until one of the judges told 
him he need not argue that point, because he was against him; and 
he added, that there was no use in any one trying to beat him out 
of an opinion he had taken up of his own accord; that he had too 
good an opinion of his own judgment to change his views upon any 
subject excepting politics. The lawyer begged leave very respect- 
fully to remind his honor, that perhaps the rest of the bench might 
take a different view of the matter. Then, sir, replied he, there will 
be the less reason for urging your point, because they will in that 
case be in your favor. At the same time, another judge, inspired by 
the dilemma, cried out quacunque via data, he was wasting his 
breath, when he might want it to cool his mush. The lawyer looked 
posed, but recovered himself pretty well, on one of the judges burst- 
ing out with the maxim, nullum mcdicamcntum est idem omnibus ; 



476 APPENDIX. 

that the law was always changing, as any one might see by reading 
Sergeant and Kawle's Reports ; that they could not be always de- 
ciding at one session the same way they did at another, and con- 
cluded by sajang, that perhaps the counsel might as well go on, as 
they could listen to him or not, just as they pleased. But as this 
proposition did not seem to be heartily concurred in by the majority 
of their honors, the lawyer forthwith left his cause altogether to 
follow up the suggestion of the judge, and began to clear away the 
ground by arguing that they ought to hear him, first, because those 
judges who seemed so decidedly favorable during the discussion of 
the cause would probably give their opinions against him when they 
came to decide ; and he cited many cases from the Pennsylvania 
Reports to maintain his assertion, and moreover appealed to several 
old gi'ay headed shreds of the garment of Lord Coke who were sitting 
at the counsel table, who affirmed that it was the uniform practice. 
Secondly, that the judge who was now against him might also 
change his mind, for that in the case of Whacum v. Whacum, in the 
220th volume of the notes to the Digest of the Statutes, the point 
had been decided directly the reverse of his first impression. The 
judge to this insinuation replied, that he did not care whether it had 
been decided one way or the other; that he was what he called one 
of your quator pedibus judges. He did not mean to have it under- 
stood thereby that he was as obstinate as a mule, but that in his 
view of the doctrine of quator pedibus, a case could only be said to 
run upon all fours when it had three others to support it, and that, 
consequently, he looked upon one decision in favor of any particular 
point as of no sort of consequence. 

"The lawyer, however, was pertinaciously proceeding to show the 
similarity of the cases, and that the court had in the one just cited 
expressed themselves directly the reverse of the opinion now thrown 
out ; but one of the judges stopped him and said, that though tuta 
via was tutissima, the viaticum was not always explicit, and that ex 
consequenti they sometimes missed their way. He proceeded to say, 
that if they did wabble about a little, it was not owing to design ; 
that it was impossible to be always deciding ad unguera ; that there 
was a heap of law, and that it was now tangled up in this State, 
at least, pretty much like a mountain colt's tail full of Spanish 
needles. 

" The lawyer by this time found it necessary to refer to his brief 
to find out whereabouts he was exactly in his argument. And by 
the time he was ready to proceed again, he found the judges were 



APPENDIX. 477 

all engaged in a manner that indicated a decided hostility to a patient 
attention to his discourse ; one was reading a new novel ; another 
was writing an opinion in the last cause which had been argued ; a 
third leaned back on his chair and was nodding asleep ; a fourth was 
by turns drawing pictures and working with a musical seal ; and the 
fifth called to the crier to bring him some hot water and his razors, 
and he would shave himself. The lawyer by this time was foaming 
with vexation and anger ; he said this kind of conduct was insuffer- 
able, and asseverated that he'll be damned if he would not speak in 
spite of their teeth, and swore that the constitution guaranteed to 
his client the right to be heard ; that he would insist upon his privi- 
leges, and that his client should not be bamboozled at any such rate. 
No sort of regard appeared to be paid to this tirade, except that the 
judge who Avas shaving himself laid down the brush with which he 
had just lathered his face, and i)ulling off his gold spectacles, told 
him with the most provoking mildness that nobody was hindering 
him from speaking, that he could perceive. The judge who had 
quoted the quacunque via data maxim said, that if the counsel had a 
right to talk just as he pleased, the judges had the concurrent privi- 
lege of listening to just as much of it as they liked. The judge who 
was diverting himself with the musical seal remarked very seriously, 
that he did not understand such language to the court, and that he 
would like to know if the gentleman would explain himself, and 
inform the bench distinctly to which constitution he alluded, as it 
made a deal of difference with him. He did not hold himself 
bound, he said, to support the State constitution with anything but 
a club. He proceeded to say that there was a great difference in 
constitutions, as any doctor could tell you; that though he admitted 
that every judge was sworn to support the constitution of Pennsyl- 
vania, as well as that of the United States, he thought it was not 
intended that they should both be supported in the same manner ; 
that as it was not specified in what way the support was to be ex- 
tended, every judge, of course, had a right to choose his own course ; 
that, for his part, he was very clear that the constitution of the 
United States was to be upheld by a judge in his official character, 
but that the State constitution was to be sustained by an oiyen 
rebellion, and a declaration of war against the statute. He said he 
might be thought singular in this opinion, but he did not care if all 
the judges, statesmen, and civilians of the country thought differ- 
ently ; he was determined to keep, as an Irishman might say, in a 
gang by himself. He then proceeded to say, that according to his 



478 APPENDIX. 

views of " distributive justice,'''' as applicable to this particular, when 
a judge met with an Act of the Legislature infringing upon the con- 
stitutional rights of the citizen, he should first carefully inquire if it 
infringed the provisions of the constitution of the United States, and 
if it did so clearly as to admit of no debate, he was bound to pro- 
nounce against the law ; but, on the other hand, if the enactment 
contravened only the injunction of the State constitutions, he should 
delay his opinion ; not, as he wished distinctly to be understood, to 
abate the matter altogether, but rather to put in a sort of sine die 
plea, until the constitutionality of the Act could be settled by the 
sword. He compared the duty of a judge, in such a case, to that of 
the court under the English law, when an infant is sued concerning 
lands which come to him by descent, and age is granted on parol 
demurrer, and judgment is given quod loquiter remaneat quosque the 
infant comes of age ; that in case he were confronted by a question 
of State constitutionality, he would grant the demurrer, and enter 
judgment quod loquiter remaneat quosque, the people should arrange 
themselves into two parties, one to be called the statutory party, and 
the other the anti-statutory party ; and then quosque further until 
the two parties should fight it out and settle the point by military 
conflict; that as soon as the constitution demurred, and the plea of 
sine die quosque bellum should be entered, he would adjourn the 
court instanter, and excite the people to get their rifles without delay. 
This conceit, he said, was one of his own concoction, and he prided 
himself no little on its originality. He thought its conception dis- 
played a reach of imagination beyond the ordinary range of thought, 
and, if generally adopted, would preserve a smooth and steady move- 
ment in the wheels of government. One of the judges doubtingly 
inquired with whom the fight was to be waged, when he had his 
material in readiness. He replied, that he would have every man 
who dared to question the unconstitutionality of the statute con- 
victed by an independent court martial, and shot or shaved according 
to the bitterness of their opinions. He was, moreover, of opinion, 
that the judges should not themselves resist the law directly with 
"pike and gun," but by means of remedial process; that each judge 
should immediately on the entry of the plea of sine die and judgment 
loquiter remaneat quosque bellum, ut supra, and the adjournment of 
the court consequent thereon, procure their saddlebags full of writs 
of habeas corpus, mandamus, homine replegiando, de securitate pacis, 
ne unjuste vexus, moderata, misericordia, &c., and erect batteries 
upon suitable positions, and by keeping up a heavy fire of wadding 



APPENDIX. 479 

upon the enemy, effectually co-opcrato with the anti-statutory bel- 
ligerents. But, he added, he sincerely hoped the Legislature would 
appoint a mode of settling those cuffing contrarieties by a trial by 
combat something like the old mode of decision by battle, by which 
the judges should be empowered to select suitable persons to be 
brought into the field before the justices of the court at the rising of 
the sun, bare-headed and bare-legged from the knees downwards, and 
bare in the arms to the elbows, armed with batons an ell long, and 
four cornered targets, and take an oath before they engage that they 
have neither ate, nor drunk, nor done anything else by which the 
statute may be exalted, or the constitution of Pennsylvania depressed, 
and proceed forthwith to discuss the question with their weapons 
until the stars should appear. He thought that the Sfaie constitution 
should, in no case, be permitted to counterplead the wager of battle ; 
and that that of the United States, like the citizens of London, should 
be privileged from trial by combat, and entitled to have its rights 
decided by the judges in court. 

" But, said one of the judges, suppose the statutory combatants hold 
out till after starlight, or mayhap be victorious, what is to be done 
then, brother? He said it would be time enough to give an opinion 
on so important a point when the case occurred ; that he had no 
desire to volunteer an opinion on constitutional questions any more 
than other judges ; that such a question, as Horace expresses it, 
" habet foenum in cornu," and that he felt in such cases the advice to 
Tityrus in the Bucolics, 



Tityrc, et inter agendum 



Occursare capro, cornu fecit ille, caveto. 

"Another member of the bench suggested the difficulty of procuring 
combatants to enter the lists upon a dry abstract constitutional ques- 
tion, but his doubts were relieved by some one intimating, as amicus 
curiae, the facility of engaging at any time a couple of members of 
Congress to settle the dispute, if the court should be empowered to 
change the weapons to rifles, dirks, muskets, cutlasses, boarding-pikes, 
or pistols, as might best suit the combatants' corporeal power or 
deficiency, and the acrimony of their personal grudge. 

" The lawyer, who began to think he was making but poor progress 
in the argument of his cause in listening to an official discussion so 
foreign to its merits, asserted his right to a share in the colloquy by 
remarking, that he did not presume tantas componcre lites, but 
begged leave to suggest that, in his opinion, the shortest and safest 



480 APPENDIX. 

way to support the constitution would be for the judges to settle the 
question themselves, and if the people took so much interest in the 
matter as to get at loggerheads amongst themselves, and fall to kill- 
ing one another, like the army of Oreb and Zeeb, in the book of 
Judges, it is probable they would take an equal interest in supporting 
the decision ; that if there must be fighting about such questions, he 
thought it had better take place after the decision had been made. 
He inclined to the opinion, that the delivery of the decree of the 
court would save the necessity of combat. And waxing warmer, like 
Corporal Trim in his oration in the kitchen, he urged that he had too 
good an opinion of the people of Pennsylvania, to suppose they would 
sanction the Legislature in transgressions of the constitution, or that 
they would not support the judiciaiy in resisting their vagaries; that 
the people did not believe the Legislature had any more right to 
infringe the constitution than a Female African Dorcas Society, or 
any other of the most diminutive and unassuming bits of coi-porations 
in the country, and that any judge who should in a proper case 
declare so would receive their, decided approbation. He thought it 
would be a sorry day for any legislative body, who, after outraging 
the constitution of their country and their oaths, should sacrifice a 
judge for the generous discharge of his duty in protecting the citizen 
from illegal oppression. For his part, he did not believe there ever 
would be congregated a legislative body so regardless of the rights 
of the people, the sanctity of the constitution, and their own cha- 
racters, as to entertain such views, much less to practice them. Here 
one of the court remarked, that it was dangerous ground to tread 
upon, but that he felt no diffidence in declaring, that if an Act of 
Assembly should be so outrageous as to alter the style of legal pro- 
cess, and forbid "the commonwealth of Pennsylvania" at the head 
of a writ, or the phrase, " against the peace and dignity of the com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania-' at the tail of an indictment, he would 
hold the Act clearly repugnant to the 12th section of the 5th article, 
and ergo void ; but if it merely took away one man's possessions and 
gave them to another, or ordered a fellow to be hung under the 
second article of war, without judge or jury, he would feel somewhat 
in a dubitante predicament. It would then, he thought, rather pre- 
sent one of your " pike and gun " cases, and justify an immediate 
declaration of war. Declaration of war! retorted the lawyer, who 
now finding he had little chance of arguing his cause, and feeling the 
awkwardness of standing with his hands in his pockets — declaration 
of war against whom, sir? Why, against the Legislature, sir, 



APPENDIX. 481 

rejoined the judge. But, sir, rebutted the advocate, suppose they 
have adjourned and mingled with the mass of the people from whom 
they have been but for a few months selected, or suppose several 
years have elapsed since the law has been enacted, and there is not 
a single member who voted for it in the body then in session — qucere 
de hoc, said the orator, with the most triumphant assurance. And, 
continued he, his boldness increasing with his progress, if the judiciary 
will not assume some responsibility in asserting their own powers 
and independence, they may rest assured that no one else will. 

" This remark produced the expression of the most decided disap- 
probation from the bench, and they all again, uno flatu, ordered him 
to progress in the argument of the cause, and that they could not 
waste the time due to the public in these excursive fancies. The 
advocate having no desire, as the Bay lawyerftxpressed it, to 'quarrel 
with his bread and butter,' began to hunt his brief for the place 
where his ai-gument had been broken off, but not finding it with 
facility, and the time of dinner approaching, the judges ordered the 
crier to adjourn the court till three o'clock. One of the gentlemen 
asked the counsellor, as he was going out, if he intended to resume 
the argument of his cause in the afternoon ; he replied he did not 
know, but he intended to try." 



Note III. (Page 36 T.) 
EDWARD BETTLE. 

We are under obligations for the following notice of Edward Bettle 
to one who knew and loved him well. 

"Edward Bettle was born in 1803, and was the eldest son of the 
late Samuel Bettle, merchant of this city. His father was an eminent 
minister in the Society of Friends, of which Society Edward was a 
pious and consistent member. His mother was remarkable for her 
piety and excellence of character, and to the careful training received 
at their hands is doubtless mainly due the fixed and virtuous principles 
of their son. 

" His early education was principally received in the classical and 

mathematical schools established under the charter of William Penn, 

and here were laid the foundation of those attainments for which he 

was so remarkable. The ease with which he acquired knowledge 

31 



482 APPENDIX. 

was surprising, for the acquisition was a matter of no labor. Latin 
was with him a spoken language, and he belonged to a Society for 
conversation in that language, and where a fine was imposed for 
every word spoken other than in that tongue. He was a Hebrew 
as well as Greek scholar, and his reading of the New Testament, 
which was devout and frequent, was almost confined to the original. 
In the acquirement of modern languages he had great aptness. Well 
versed in chemistry, in the sciences, and in general literature, his 
conversation was most instructive from the scope, variety, and depth 
of his attainments. He was a deep student of political economy, and 
so profound and practical were his views that the late John Quincy 
Adams requested several conferences with him on the subject of 
political economy and the tarifiT, to which Mr. Bettle had given 
laborious study. 

" In the family and social circle, however, his mind and heart found 
their fullest development. Guileless and open-hearted, it was there 
that in the relations of son, brother, husband, friend, and citizen, he 
displayed in due proportions that highest character, the Christian 
gentleman. Whilst bold and candid in asserting his own views, such 
was the suavity and kindness of his manner and of his heart that he 
even won upon his opponents in argument, and if not convinced they 
were not displeased. Without the slightest pedantry, affectation, or 
self-esteem, he conversed with great ability, yet with an ease and 
naturalness that exhibited a delightful unconsciousness of his own 
gifts and powers, and spoke right out- the result of his convictions, 
but with real tenderness for the feelings of others. Such were his 
powers of adaptation and sympathy, such the variety and exactness 
of his knowledge, that those with whom he conversed deemed him a 
special proficient in their own particular study or pursuit. 

" The readiness with which he imbibed knowledge, the love of 
truth for its own sake, have been spoken of, and his easy and uncon- 
scious manner of imparting it reminds one of some lines used in 
describing the character of the late Rev. Dr. J. Addison Alexander, 
of Princeton, New Jersey. 

'His was a mind rich fraught with classic lore, 
Not heap'd up idly like a miser's store, 
But with an elegant profusion spent, 
To make whatever he utter'd excellent; 
His learning govern' d by the gentlest laws, 
You felt the effect, but could not trace the cause; 
As some fair stream its course in silence takes, 
Hid by the verdure that itself creates.' 



APPENDIX. 483 

" He took a lively interest in the concerns of his own religious 
Society, in the welfare of the aborigines, in the slave, in the cause 
of education, having been one of the original promoters of Haverford 
College ; various benevolent organizations also claimed his attention, 
and he was at one time Secretary of the Institution for the Deaf and 
Dumb. 

"He was married on the 1st of December, 1825, to Ann Eliza 
Edwards — daughter of Griffith Edwards, for many years a merchant 
in the city of Philadelphia — 'who was a woman of rare mental 
endowments and accomplishments. Her piety, tenderness, grace, and 
thorough congeniality of tastes and dispositions beautified and adorned 
their short-lived marriage connection. Early in May, 1827, soon after 
the birth of their first and only child, a son, he was called to follow 
his wife to the grave.' 

" Towards the latter part of his life, his devotion to religion increased, 
his mind seemed impressed with the conviction of impending change, 
and he unceasingly engaged in the work of preparation, so that his 
last sickness found him little to do. Once during the course of it he 
was permitted to experience a deep trial of his faith. ' What,' said 
he, 'if I, who have always loved the society of good men, should 
come short and be suffered to spend an eternity with evil spirits.' 
But this cloud passed over, and he was able to exclaim, in the 
triumphing love of Jesus : ' Not for works of righteousness that we 
have done, but according to His mercy He saveth us.' He died the 
10th day of 10th month, 1832." 

The following letter from the Rev. Charles W. Thomson, an early 
and intimate friend of Mr. Bettle, was written in kind compliance 
with a request to communicate the Avriter's recollections of the 
subject of this sketch. 

"York, Ta., June 3, 1864. 
"My Dear Sir: 
" I returned only yesterday from my visit to Pittsburg, where I 
had the pleasure of receiving your second communication. I am 
afraid your expectations are raised beyond any ability I possess to 
gratify them, in regard to my friend, Edward Bettle. I wish I could 
give you interesting material towards a biographical sketch ; but as 
I remarked to you in a former letter, Mr. Bettle's course was so 
unpretending and so generally devoid of prominent incident, that 
there seems "to be little in connection with it that would attract the 
public attention. 



484 APPENDIX. 

'Along the cool, sequester'd vale of life, 
He kept the noiseless tenor of his way.' 

" Communing frankly with his intimate friends, beloved by his 
family and those among whom he quietly moved, but participating 
little with the great outside world, either in its rapid pleasures or its 
distracting cares. His circle was the charmed one of home and 
friends, and with them was his great delight. I have now lying 
before me on my study table, and an object of almost daily reference, 
a quarto copy of Cruden's Concoi'dance, in which his name is in- 
scribed by his own hand conjointly with my own. It was a gift from 
him in our earlier days, long before I expected to enter my present 
profession, in which I find it invaluable. Reminded by this and 
other recollections, I have him vividly before my mind in his personal 
appearance, his manners, and his general deportment, but still I 
cannot recall any incidents of note in our intercourse or in his history, 
as far as my knowledge extended (and our friendship was quite an 
intimate one), which seem to claim place in the pages of a biography. 
I am not aware that I have any memoranda to which I can refer for 
the date of Mr. Bottle's birth, but I think he was my junior by a 
very few years. He received a liberal education, though he did not 
pass through a collegiate course, and from a fondness for books he 
acquired decidedly literary habits and predilections. He formed a 
youthful attachment to a young lady of congenial pursuits and dis- 
positions (whom you will find alluded to in the letters sent herewith), 
which after several years was consummated in marriage, and proved 
a very happy connection. But although blessed with abundant 
means for rendering life prosperous and comfortable, it was not long 
continued ; his wife died in a very few years, and he soon followed, 
leaving only one child, a son. 

"My most prominent recollections of Edward Bettle are in con- 
nection with a little coterie of choice spirits, who were accustomed to 
meet almost nightly at the residence of a lady, a mutual friend, 
whose literary propensities and sprightly mind constituted our great 
attraction. There we discussed various matters, literary and social, 
with all the decorous freedom that belonged to a refined and well- 
understood friendship, and our talk was frequently interspersed and 
seasoned with sallies of wit and humor, which, amidst our more 
sober examinations of books, characters, and principles, served to 
enliven and give variety to these occasions, so that, passing ' from 
grave to gay, from lively to severe,' we found pleasure, and it is to 
be hoped sometimes profit, from these conversations. My friend 



APPENDIX. 485 

Edward seemed to enjoy these gatherings with considerable zest, 
although, from certain causes, he was not as often present as some 
others of the set. While he entered with spirit into the more sober 
discussions, he also found pleasure in the more lively parts of the 
conversation ; for although the bent of his character was serious, and 
he loved to entertain the more important questions of duty and 
obligation, he had at the same time a ready perception of the ludi- 
crous, and took evident delight at proper times in a little harmless 
pleasantry. His feelings and desires were those of a Christian, and 
he owned the cheerful spirit which a Christian ought to possess. I 
can well remember the quiet hilarity with which his face would beam 
when any bright thought touched his fancy, or any good saying 
chimed in with his sense of the ridiculous or the amusing. At such 
times his countenance had a peculiar expression, indicative of high 
intellectual gratification. His marriage took him away very much 
from the meetings of our little circle, but I still frequently encoun- 
tered him in his own home and elsewhere, and always found him 
the same kind, pleasant, and interesting friend. 

" Mr. Bettle's talents were of a high order ; he inherited consider- 
able intellectual capabilities from both his parents, and during his 
short but useful life did much credit to himself and his generation, 
although it pleased Providence to take him away early, and thus to 
foreclose his abundant promise of future usefulness in the world. I 
look back upon the days long past, and remember him as one of the 
friends of my youth, gone before me to the 'better land.' He has 
left behind him a character of high integrity, great simplicity, and 
straightforwardness of purpose. His memory Avill long be kept 
green in the hearts of those that loved him, and in the society where 
he was best known and estimated, we may say of him in the true 
words of the sacred bard : 

* The sweet remembrance of the just 
Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust.' 

Or we may apply to his case that other expressive language of an 
apocryphal writer : ' Though the righteous be prevented with death, 
yet shall he be in rest, for honorable age is not that which standcth 
in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years ; but 
wisdom is the gray hair unto man, and an unspotted life is old age.' 

" I have thrown these few remarks together in great haste, both 
on your account and my ow». as 1 have little time to bestow on it, 
and your press is in a hurry. I hope they may afford you some little 



46b APPENDIX. 

help in weaving out the web of your narrative. I wish I could have 
given you more incident. If I had had more time and leisure, per- 
haps I might have accomplished a little more, but this seems to be 
the best I could do under the circumstances. 

"Hastily, but very truly yours, 

" C. W. Thomson. 
"Edward Armstrong, Esq." 

Mr. Thomas Evans thus writes to the Editor in reply to a request: 
" My deceased friend, Edward Bettle, was a man of remarkably 
strong, clear mind, well cultivated, both by literary and scientific 
studies, of sound discriminating judgment, and of high moral and 
religious principles. He was successfully pursuing a career of use- 
fulness and benevolence, each year developing more fully the ample 
resources of his rich and well stored mind, and his remarkable facility 
for employing them and promoting the good of others, when ijt pleased 
an all-wise Providence to call him away from the sphere of his dis- 
interested and valuable labors in the prime of life, and in the full 
vigor of his large intellectual endowments." 



Note IY. (Page 435.) 
ROBERT PROUD. 

For the following poems by Robert Proud, we are indebted to our 
friend, his biographer, the Rev. Charles West Thomson, of York, 
Pennsylvania. From the tone of the first it will be perceived that, 
at the period of its composition, the writer sympathized with his 
native, rather than his adopted, country. 

VOX NATURE, AN ELEGY. 

"Nesclo qua natale solum dulcedine cunetos 
Bucit, et immemores not slnit esse sui." 



Natalo solum loquitur. 



Distant from thy country far, 
On the banks of Delaware, 

Thou dost mourn ; 
Compass'd round by rebel foes, 
Worn with grief, and press'd by woes, 

return! 



APPENDIX. 487 

Thee, thy native soil again 
Welcomes from beyond the main; 

Come and see, 
Once again before thy death, 
What thy native country hath 

Good for thee. 

Long, too long in troubles tost. 
From thy friends and kindred lost, 

Far from home; 
To relieve thy griefs and woes, 
All thy sorrows to compose, 

Hither come. 

In the confines of these bowers 
Pass thy yet remaining hours; 

Thou shalt have 
Here, at last, upon this shore. 
Where no ill shall reach thee more, 

A peaceful grave. 

Peace and plenty yet awhile 
Thou may'st have upon this isle, 

If thou flee 
From the idol of the crowd. 
And where noise and strife are loud. 

Seldom be. 

If thy intimates be few 

(A few chosen friends will do). 

Thou with these. 
Far from rage, revenge, and strife, 
May'st enjoy that bliss of life 

Which will please. 

Long enough, and oh ! too long 
Troubles thou hast been among; 

From the bad, 
Of the wages which are due 
Only to a rebel crew. 

Thou hast had! 

All thy friends are changed or gone, 
Thou art valued now by none ; 

Robb'd of all 
By the infernal powers assign'd, 
There to punish human kind ! 

Thee I call. 



488 APPENDIX. 

What hast thou to do with those 
Who embrace rebellion's cause? 

Come away, 
There to live is death to thee, 
Worse than their's thy lot shall be, 

If thou stay. 

From the faithful and the true, 
Separation, why dost thou 

Longer try? 
Here on earth, while power is given. 
In an order nearer Heaven, 

Live and die. 

Responsum, 

How can I revisit thee, 
And my native country see? 
Now forgotten and unknown. 
Now respected there by none! 

How can I, 
After absence many years', 
Now repeat my former cares. 
And myself again expose 
To new trials and fresh woes, 

Ere I die! 

Now my life is almost done. 
Yet awhile, and I am gone ; 
A few moments, and no more 
I am on this mortal shore. 

From a grave 
What advantage can I find, 
What true solace to the mind. 
Whether on the land or sea, 
Wheresoe'er my lot may be. 

Can I have? 

Yet each faithful mind must grieve 
With the infernal race to live ; 
And among the virtuous, I 
Would not only live but die ; 

For what man, 
Tho' of everything bereft, 
Tho' no earthly solace left, 
Here with rebel powers would dwell. 
And not shun the state of hell, 

While he can ! 



APPENDIX. 489 

Hence eternal reason's voice 
I will follow in my choice ; 
For, as happiness alone 
By obedience first was known, 

But was lost 
By rebellion, so no more 
Shall be known, upon this shore, 
That true glory, peace, and joy, 
Which did former days employ, 

On this coast. 



Philadelphia, Christmas Day, 1782. 

A PLAINTIVE ESSAY, 

ATTEMPTED BY R. P. IN 6 MO., 17S1, AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OP GREAT DISTRESS, DE- 
JECTION, AND TROUBLE OF MIND. 

Thou universal Cause, unseen, 

Of everything that's right, 
Oh ! Thou, whose ways have ever been 

Most lovely in my sight ; 

As in the days which I have spent, 

Shall I no longer be 
As I was, when, where'er I went, 

Thy presence went with me ! 

When thro' this life, as thro' a night 

Of mingled joy and woe. 
Safe by Thy light, for by Thy light 

I did with pleasure go; 

When high and low, when old and young. 

Were glad my friends to be ; 
When all degrees and every tongue 

Paid deference to me; 

From Thee, I knew, I did receive 

The favors of manldnd. 
To Thee, 'twas all I could, I gave 

True gratitude of mind. 

But oh ! why now this grievous fall. 

Why am I left forlorn? 
Why am I thus deprived of all, 

Why was I ever born ? 



490 APPENDIX. 

Without, of everything bereft, 
Of all the world calls dear ; 

Within, no consolation left, 
No tokens of Thy care ! 

Oh ! had Thy light and life not shone 
And quicken'd human kind, 

Darkness and death had not been known, 
Nor felt within the mind! 

The meanest bred, the vilest born. 

Insult and scofiF me now; 
They who have known me long, with scorn 

Say, spiteful, "Who art thou?" 

What hath his love of learning done, 
What good for him, they cry ; 

The thing he most depended on 
Is nothing but a lie! 

Oh ! Thou, who knowest all, dost know. 
E'en from my early youth, 

I always have preferr'd, till now, 
Thy wisdom, way, aud truth; 

My early thoughts, my constant cares, 

Devoted were to Thee; 
Oh! why, in my declining years. 

Hast Thou forsaken me ! 

Why now should I this evil know. 

And yet no reason find? 
A burden to myself to grow, 

A burden to mankind ! 

Despised of all, and trod upon, 

Why should I live to be, 
When those I most depended on 

Have all forsaken me? 

Secluded and impell'd, as when 

To death the dying are, 
From all the cheerful ways of men. 

To perish in despair. 

Far distant, in a foreign land, 

No kind assistance nigh. 
To Thee I make, to Thee alone, 

My solitary cry ! 



APPENDIX. 491 

Where deatli and darkness, understood, 

Possess the human mind, 
Rebellion, wrath, revenge, and blood, 

The actions of mankind! 

Permit not these too long to reign, 

And over me aspire ; 
Oh! suffer not the worst of men 

To trample me as mire 1 

My much distress'd mind o'erspread, 

And bring to life again; 
Which long has been among the dead, 

Among the mental slain! 

Let not my life, my painful days, 

Devoted long to Thee, 
Thus perish, and to virtue's ways 

Such great dishonor be! 

Let not Thy saving Providence 

(In every trial past 
Which I have known my sure defence) 

Abandon me at last. 

Let me not be at last a prey 

To the infernal power; 
My mind enliven by Thy ray 

In every needful hour. 

As Thou hast been my morning light. 

My evening glory be ; 
My final days, with most delight, 

Let me rejoice to see; 

Let me rejoice, whene'er I go 

Among the silent dead. 
Thy love, Thy life, with me to know, 

Thy glory on my head. 

In reference to his own particular situation in life and also to the 
state of man in general, be has sometimes applied the followmg 
lines : 

Optima quoeque dies miscris mortnlibus ccvi. 
Prima fugit suberunt morbi tristisque senectus, 
Et labor et durac rapit inclementia mortis. 



492 APPENDIX. 

Our early days are best but quickly gone, 
Disease with pain and sorrow soon come on, 
Labor and care soon introduce decay, 
And death resistless hastens all away. 

And has also observed he could with propriety apply to himself 
the answer of the patriarch Jacob to Pharoah, King of Egypt : " Few 
and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not 
attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days 
of their pilgrimage." 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Advertisement to the First Edition, v 

Editorial Note, .... vii 

Sketcli of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, . , . ix 
Constitution of tlie Society, (1864,) ...... xv 

do. do. do. (old,) 13 

Officers and Standing Committees, ...... 17 

Honorary and Corresponding Members, 21 

Circular, ........... 23 

An Inaugural Discourse, delivered on the 5th of November, 1825, 
before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. By William Rawle, 

Esq., President of the Society, 29 

A Memoir on the Locality of the Great Treaty between "William Penn 

and the Indian natives in 1682. By Egberts Vaux, . . 87 
Notes on tfcer'Provincial Literature of Pennsylvania. By TnoMAS I. 

Wharton, Esq., 107 

A Memoir on the Controversy between William Pcnn and Lord Bal- 
timore, respecting the boundaries of Pennsylvania and Maryland. 
By James Dunlop, Esq., member of the Senate of Pennsylvania. 163 
Original Letters of William Penn, with his Will and Codicil, and 

papers relating to them, 205 

Papers relative to the Valedictory Address of President Washington, 239 
A Vindication of the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder's History of the Indian 

Nations. By William Rawle, Esq., 268 

An Account of the First Settlement of the Townships of Bucking- 
ham and Solebury, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with Remarks 
on the State of Manners, Remarkable Occurrences, &c. By Dr. 
John Watson, 1804, 285 

(493) 



494 CONTENTS. 

Page 
A Brief Account of the Discovery of Anthracite Coal on the Lehigh. 

By Thomas D. James, M. D., 321 

Sonae Extracts from Papers in the Office of the Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth at Harrisburgh, and from other Documents. Transcribed 
by Redmond Conyngham, Esq., of Carlisle, .... 333 

Contributions to the Medical History of Pennsylvania. By Caspar 
Morris, M. D 347 

Notices of Negro Slavery, as connected with Pennsylvania. By Ed- 
ward Bettle, 365 

Notices of the Life and Character of Robert Proud, Author of " The 
History of Pennsylvania." By Charles West Thomson, . 417 

Original Letters of William Penn, ...... 437 

A Biographical Sketch of Sir William Keith, one of the formei' Gov- 
ernors of the Province of Pennsylvania. By a Member of the 
Biographical Committee, 451 

Members of the Society newly elected, 4G5 

Appendix, 467 



LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 



Page 
Biographical Sketch of "William Kawle, ..... 31 

Origin of the name of Cape Henlopen, ..... 195 

Extract from the original Book of Mason and Dixon's Field Notes, 200 

Copy of an original Will of William Penn, ..... 222 

Coal tonnage of the Lehigh Region, 329 

History of the Act of 1780, for the Gradual Abolishment of Slavery 

in Pennsylvania, ......... 405 

Biographical Sketch of George Bryan, author of the Act of 1780, 408 

Notices of the early Acts of Assembly on the subject of Slaves, . 415 
Notices of Sir William Keith, Doctor Gr?eme, Mrs. Elizabeth Fer- 

gusson, &c 459 

List of Pilgrims of the " Welcome," (Appendix,) . . . 467 

Biographical Sketch of James Dunlop, " . . . .471 

" " Edward Bettle, " . . • . 481 

Poems by Robert Proud, ...".... 486 



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